


Kristanna Advent 2016

by Punkpoemprose



Series: Kristanna Advent [3]
Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: F/M, Kristanna Advent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2019-03-28 15:53:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 30,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13907343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Punkpoemprose/pseuds/Punkpoemprose
Summary: A collection of short romantic kristanna fan fictions written for each day of December leading up to Christmas.Most Chapters are fluff, NSFW chapters are marked at the start of the chapters.





	1. Kissing A Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> Modern AU, based on all of those "_____ing a stranger" videos that kept popping up on buzzfeed all the time.

Anna laughed to herself and pushed her hair behind her ear for the fifth time in a row. She couldn’t believe that she had agreed to do something so crazy and so intimate. Sure, she was a spontaneous person with a free spirit, but to agree to kiss a total stranger, well it was a little crazy, even for her.

When a friend a work had mentioned the stranger project to her, and told her that they were coming to Arendelle to film, she had immediately gone home to see what it was all about. After watching every single video she could find, each appealing to her romantic sensibilities more than the last, she made the leap and signed up as a volunteer on their website. When she hit the submit button she did so simply for the thought of doing something to shake the stagnancy out of her daily life. Some small part of her also hoped that maybe it would be healing.

Though she was fairly certain she looked presentable she wished for a mirror. Her stomach was full of butterflies and her head was a fog of memories as to how she had arrived to the current moment. Her eyes were locked on the black sheet before her, knowing that at any moment the person on the other side would be revealed to her.

She wondered whether her fussing had smeared her lipstick or frizzed her hair, but she tried to logically explain to herself that even if she had it didn’t matter. There wasn’t much she could do about it. Regardless it was easier to worry about looks than it was actions. Looks were excusable, actions though, actions speak to who a person is.

The curtain dropped to the ground and revealed a white backdrop to her side, extending a few feet to the opposite side of the room. Before her was a man that immediately caused her to go pale. She knew that pompous smile, expensive haircut and costly-but-casual outfit anywhere.

“He’s no stranger,” Anna said, turning to face the man running the camera, “and I’m not kissing him.”

“I’ve no interest in kissing you either,” Hans added with a condescending laugh as he turned away from her and started to walk off the set and to the closest door, “I don’t care what my agent said about exposure, I’m leaving.”

There was a slam of a door that made Anna jump, and suddenly she was alone with a pair of shocked camera men and the tears collecting along the line of her lashes. They seemed to simply stand there for a moment, staring at each other in complete shock, until the taller of the two said, “Cut the tape,” quietly and strode from behind the camera towards Anna.

She saw him approach her and finally allowed herself to unfreeze. He was tall and broad and had a soft look in his eyes that seemed to tell her that he was sorry before he even opened his mouth to say so.

“I’m so sorry, we didn’t realize that you knew each other.”

Anna looked into his eyes and shook her head, she somehow knew that she didn’t need to explain how she and Hans knew each other. That much at least was obvious, surely. “It’s fine, I still want to do it.”

The man blinked and looked at her. Despite what had just happened she had a fire in her eyes that spoke to her unwillingness to let anyone or anything deter her from acting when her mind was made up. Her eyes were shining with tears she was holding back and her cheeks were ruddy with anger. He wouldn’t stand in her way.

“Sven,” he called over to his friend who was still behind the camera, “reset the take.”

“We don’t have anyone else to film with, so it might be a little while. I’m going to see if there’s a PA around or something, but I’m new on this project, so I’m not really sure what the protocol here is.”

Anna simply nodded and took a step back to where she had been a moment before. This time she sat on the provided chair and watched as the man she had been talking to ran off in search of someone to kiss her.

It was surreal. Sven, the other man, reset the sheets, and she couldn’t help but to think for the first time that she should feel mortified about what she was doing. Her sister had warned her against doing something so brash, but she hadn’t listened. If it proved anything, it was that strangers weren’t always good people. This wasn’t the first time that Hans had taught her that lesson, but this time she was taking it more to heart than the last.

No amount of ice cream and crying was going to get rid of the memories of him, no matter how much she wished it were so. She was over him, utterly and completely, but every time she saw him, a part of her heart broke anew. For a while she had been bitter, but now she was just resigned to the fact that the pain he caused would always be a memory. She just prayed that it would eventually become a distant one.

Without warning, the curtain dropped again and Anna was shocked into standing. Before her was a stranger in a manner of speaking, but not a totally unfamiliar face. Evidently the man who had gone searching for someone to film had only found himself.

His face was red, and the way he fidgeted his hands along the inside of his sweatshirt pocket made it evident that he was used to being behind the camera. In fact despite his good looks, it appeared that he had never been in front of one before. When he took a step towards her, she stepped towards him in return. They walked together quickly covering the short distance until they were mere inches apart.

“Hey,” she said softly, looking up at him once more, but really and truly seeing him for the first time. His hair was blonde, shaggy in a way, but it suited him. His eyes were cognac brown and despite the wariness evident in his awkwardness, the way he looked upon her was warm and inviting.

“Hey,” he returned as he pulled his hands from his pocket and stretched it out like he was going to shake her hand.

She couldn’t help but stare at it for a moment and ask herself if he was actually being serious. He wasn’t acting like it was a joke, and all she could do was smile. He clearly had no idea what he was doing.

When he noticed her staring at his hand quizzically, he pulled it back and used it to rub at the back of his neck. He felt like he was a thousand degrees and hoped that all the sweating he was surely doing wouldn’t be noticed by her or the camera. It was probably too much to hope.

He knew that he was bad at this sort of thing. He always had been. In high school girls hadn’t realized that he existed, not that he had done anything to change it, nor had he paid much attention to it at the time. He had been too busy fiddling with his camera and hanging out with Sven. As he had aged he had kissed plenty of women, or rather, many women had kissed him. He really wasn’t the type to initiate a kiss. He wasn’t that forward.

“I, uh…may I? May we?”

Anna laughed nervously and lifted her hand to catch his as it fell from the back of his neck to his side.

“We may.”

He blushed and squeezed her hand in a way he hoped was comforting, though he wasn’t sure if the comfort he was trying to give was more for her or for himself.

It was a quick decision when Anna stood up on her tiptoes to press her lips to his. She wanted to kiss him, and she wanted to do so on her own terms. She so rarely was given a choice in her life, but she had chosen to press her lips to a stranger’s, for better or for worse, and in her chest she felt empowered for doing so.

His eyes went wide for a moment, shocked by the forcefulness of her kiss, but he got over the shell shock quickly and closed his lids. He brought his free hand up to cup her cheek gently. A thought entered his head, that even though he was kissing her, she might find his touch too unfamiliar and that he might be making her uncomfortable, but there was something in her kiss and the naturalness of the way it felt for his hand to touch her so gently that told him that he wasn’t doing anything she didn’t want him to. That thought relaxed him, despite the strangeness of the whole affair, something felt right about their kiss.

When his lips left hers, it felt too soon. Her fingers were still intertwined with his and her opposite hand rose instinctively to touch her own lips. She looked into his eyes and they smiled at each other with awkwardness and genuine happiness in equal measure.

“I’m Kristoff by the way,” he said with ruddy cheeks and smiling eyes.

“Anna,” she said, although she supposed he knew that already, “pleasure to meet you.”

He chuckled and untangled their fingers to signal for his friend to stop filming.

“So, uh, this is usually where we do a post interview and then you’re free to go, unless you want to,” he stopped himself, like he thought better of what he was about to say, but then looked back to her and sighed, “Unless you want to catch dinner with me. I mean you can say no, I just feel bad about everything that happened and you were a really great person to you know, uh, shoot with.”

Anna laughed again, this time feeling more confident and reading between the lines.

“I’d like to get to know you too.”


	2. Bundled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Domestic Fluff

Kristoff wrapped his arms tightly around his wife as she shivered in the cool sheets of their bed. The fire had been forgotten a few hours before bed, and the Arendelle winter chill always crept quickly through the castle’s stone walls despite Elsa’s best intentions to repel it. His sister-in-law might be the Queen of the Kingdom and a veritable force of nature herself, but she couldn’t control every draft or crystal of ice. While the fireplace now held a scorching blaze, it was in the process of fighting its battle against the incumbent chill and winning slowly but surely.

Shivers still racked her body despite his wrapping her in his heat, and the best intentioned thick nightgown. He could hear her teeth chatter, and thought about insisting that they head back to the parlor where they had just been. They had spent their evening working on their respective paperwork while Elsa worked away in her study. Even though he had extinguished the fire before they left he knew that the room was still warm, and that the cold was slowly fighting the opposite of the battle that was raging in their bedroom. There was never a decisive winner in the war, but at any rate Anna was losing.

“Anna, why don’t we go somewhere warmer?” he asked, muttering the question into her back shoulder, and shivering himself as her icy toes found their way against the skin of his shins.

“I’m too tired to stand,” she mumbled back, her face buried in a pillow. “I don’t care if I die of hypothermia, at least then I’d get some rest.”

She wouldn’t have said such a thing a few years back when they were newly engaged and he had to breech the standards of propriety to hold her through the nights where she had nightmares about freezing solid. That in of itself was a strange and small comfort to him. He normally would have called her out for being overly dramatic, but the truth honestly was that they were both tired and deservedly so.

Anna had been handling all the festivity plans for the winter solstice celebration and Christmas, including the stacks of purchase orders, invitations, and other various papers that needed her perusal and signature. He had attempted to help her as much as possible while taking care of his own work as Arendelle’s Ice Master. Of course, he had given up ice harvesting the year before when he had nearly drowned under the ice. Now he simply employed Arendelle’s other harvesters and ensured they had a living wage and that their conditions were as safe as they possibly could be. However, it felt like even more work sometimes with the piles of paperwork and cash to shift through. He didn’t even want to imagine Elsa’s workload as of late, but with the small stacks of her work that she allowed to be passed on to the two of them, Kristoff knew that it had to be inhuman.

“I could carry you there,” he said, though his legs traitorously ached from all the running about he had done during the day.

Anna made a noncommittal noise and Kristoff found himself back at square one, with a chilled bride and a lack of energy to do anything about it.

He let her icy feet steal heat from his much warmer legs and pulled the blankets tighter around them both before kissing the back of her neck and being treated to a shiver that wasn’t caused by the cold.

He had a few thoughts of other ways in which they could warm up, but they were both far too tired for such a thing, and despite four years of marriage and plenty of experience in that particular form of heat creation the thought of it still made him blush, and inadvertently added to the warmth of his skin anyway.

When she scooted back into him a little closer, and made a contented sound as the transfer of their body temperature warmed them both in their shared blanket cocoon. Kristoff smiled into Anna’s hair and breathed in the familiar scent of her mixed with wood smoke and ink. There was nothing better on a cold night, despite a chilly start, than being bundled up with his wife.


	3. Sometime Around Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by The Airborne Toxic Event’s song of the same name. Modern AU. Mild Angst, read with caution. I’m sorry(ish).

Kristoff nursed a drink in one hand while the other scratched at the head of his service dog. Sven was at his feet, gratefully wagging his tail in return for the attention he was receiving. He probably didn’t need to bring him today, his mental state as of late had been fairly stable, and even when he dissociated it hadn’t been bad enough to prove dangerous. More often than not his PTSD had manifested itself in the form of staring at walls and not hearing a person talking to him rather than the vivid nightmares that could come on even in the daylight.

The Bruins were playing, and he knew that he should have just watched the game at home. Since returning from the front his favorite sports bar had been overrun by local university students, and while a single television remained above the bar, he was the only one that showed up to watch the game.

The closed captioning was on because the commentator couldn’t be heard over the booming dance music coming from behind him. The bartender gave him a soft smile as a commercial came on the television. She was an older woman, maybe in her fifties and had worked at the bar since its opening many years earlier. She had met him on his twenty first birthday, a few months before he shipped out, back when the bar had really been a sports bar in more than just name. He had been surrounded by friends that day, and she was sad to think that he was the only one that had returned home.

“I’m glad you still come here,” she said casually as she wiped down the bar, “Not sure I could handle hockey night without hockey on the TV and some good company to watch it with.”

Kristoff nodded, he knew what she was trying to do, and while he appreciated it, he wasn’t sure of what to say. When he mustered a sentence in response, he kept his fingers twisted in Sven’s fur for comfort.

“They’re really doing well this season.”

She nodded, “I’ve got them winning the Stanley this year, my husband thinks it’ll be the sabers, that’s a laugh, eh?”

Kristoff chuckled and took a sip of his rum and coke. He didn’t reply, and he was grateful when the game returned to the screen so that he didn’t have to.

Bruins were up by three and despite that, the obnoxious music made him wish that he were home instead. Someone sat beside him at the bar, but he didn’t look away from the television as the bartender set a full glass down in front of them. He hadn’t even heard the stranger order, but knew that he wasn’t alone any longer. What spurred him to turn and glance at his new neighbor was a feminine voice cheering for another Bruins goal. She was clearly more excited than he was about it.

He couldn’t believe his eyes upon noticing the woman next to him. She looked so familiar, her blue eyes full of joy and her red hair looking like fire under the neon lights above the bar. It took him back to a night he had desperately attempted to forget.

It was his last night before deployment, lady’s night, and for once he wasn’t at the bar for a game. He was there to say goodbye to his home, his friends, and everything familiar. He should have known that he would have had to tell her goodbye as well.

She had been there then, dancing with her friends each with their own fake ID, and he had been out with his buddies for their last hurrah, almost all with newly legal IDs. It wasn’t the first time that they had talked, but it was the first time he had bought her a drink. He had known at the time that it didn’t entitle him to anything, it was more that he just wanted to be the reason she smiled again, he would have done anything for her smile. He still remembered her order, Gin and Tonic, while he knocked back glass after glass of some cheap wine because it felt more like a celebration beverage than beer.

She had glowed in the light dancing that night, and the things they had talked about were things that he hadn’t spoken about with another human being since. All while he was away he had replayed the way she had turned and smiled in his mind. Her name echoed in his head as if it were empty except for her, Anna.

“Hey,” she said taking notice of who she was seated next to, “long time no see.”

Kristoff wasn’t there to hear her speaking, he was too lost in memory. The room was spinning for him.

She had left that night with someone he didn’t know. A man with auburn hair and a wicked smile that made him angry just to imagine. It had cut him through, he had touched her with so much familiarity and had reminded him that he had no claim on her anymore. Everything about him had said, I’m already better for her than you could ever be.

He had run out the door after that night. He just had to see her, and when she was gone without a trace, everyone outside the bar staring at him, it had ripped him in two.

He had spent so many nights tuning out the smell of gunpowder and the sight of explosions with her perfume and the image he had only ever seen once, her body lying naked in his arms.

He was brought to by Sven’s cold damp nose nudging at his palm. He wasn’t sure how long he had spaced out, but the score on the television screen said five to one and Anna was still at his side.

“Are you alright?” she asked, she looked concerned, but not overly offended or distraught by his staring off into space.

“Yeah, sorry,” he said, shaking the last of the memories from his mind, “How’ve you been?”

“You sure?” the bartender called, giving him a doubtful look, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Kristoff didn’t know how to respond, and again he luckily didn’t have to. Anna did the talking for him.

“I’ve been alright. You know, same old same old. Next semester is my last. Thinking about grad school. How about you? How’ve you been?”

He wasn’t sure what to say, he patted Sven’s head, but he didn’t feel as anxious as he might have imagined being. He never though he would see her again.

“I, uh, just got back to the states a couple months ago. Honorable discharge, looking around for a job… Not that I haven’t been working, just it’s hard, you know…”

“Readjusting?” she offered.

He nodded, grateful that she seemed to understand.

“How’s your sister?” he offered in return. Neither of them were paying the game much mind, and the bartender had gone back to her duties, listening to their conversation, but being tactful in her doing so.

“She’s good. Feeling a lot better than the last time you saw her. She’s come really far. What about your family?”

Kristoff looked down at the floor nervously, “They tell me they’re fine, but I know they could probably use me back at home. I, well, haven’t seen them since I got home.”

He wasn’t sure why he was telling her that. They hadn’t spoken a word in four years, and still he was willing to tell her everything on his mind, even his guilt.

She didn’t chide him or comment on the personal nature of his words, but instead spoke like four years hadn’t changed a thing anyway. “If your mom still makes that cherry pie you told me about I’d head home right now.”

“What if she gave up on pie baking while I was gone?”

“Then you could wait a little longer.”

They both laughed, and for Kristoff it was the easiest conversation he’d had in well over a year.

“What about your boyfriend?” he asked, ready to slap himself as soon as the words passed his lips. He was bringing it up too quickly, and he knew it.

“What boyfriend?” she asked, tossing back what Kristoff immediately recognized as another gin and tonic.

Some people never changed. That at least was a comfort.

“Whoever you’re talking about, he didn’t last,” there was no bite to her words, no remorse, only acceptance. She didn’t feel awkward with him, she never had.

“Why?” he asked, not bothering to filter himself.

“Buy me another drink and I’ll tell you,” she said, removing her jacket to reveal a white dress.

It shot him back into his memories. Logically he knew that it wasn’t the same one she was wearing that night, but it looked like it enough to pull him back into his own mind.

Months before he had shipped out, they had been in a whirlwind summer romance. She had said it was like Grease, and when he mentioned he had never watched it, they had curled up on his couch and had spent half the movie kissing. She had worn a white dress for the occasion, and what he had done with her a few hours later had ruined her for white dresses the rest of her life, or so she had whispered in his ear as he held her, their bodies like two perfect circles intertwined. The dress had looked beautiful on her, but she had looked even more lovely with it off. If he thought about it hard enough, he swore he could still remember the taste of red vines and cherry coke on her tongue.

When she knocked back the drink, on his dime, she leaned it close to him so that her lips were nearly brushing his ear. The game ended and the Bruins won as expected, not that either of them noticed. They were lost in each other and lost in memories, and that much was plain as day.

“None of them lasted, because they weren’t you,” she whispered, “I’ve been stuck on you since the day you walked out on me.”

He didn’t want to remember it. He had blocked it out for so long, and Sven whined as Kristoff tensed up. It was a dark day for him, but he thought that he was doing what was best for her, what was best for them both. He had told her time and time again that she deserved better than him, and each time he said it, he believed it more and she believed it less. She was intelligent and beautiful, he deserved better than an infantry man who could barely support her financially and who would almost never be there physically. He loved her too much to subject her to that. His heart was too attached to her to survive a Dear John and he felt it would surely come if they stayed together. So he had ended it at her house, leaving her everything that he could before leaving for boot camp.

He wondered now if she had kept it, the record player and vinyl, the band shirts and the hockey jerseys. He had given her every single physical thing he could, knowing that physical objects weren’t a substitute for being there, for loving her like she deserved to be loved, but he hoped they could fill some sort of a void. He hoped that she had thrown them away. He understood now that being surrounded by the things he loved would have tortured her. He wondered if she kept the promise ring even after the promise was broken.

“I’m sorry.”

It was lame, it wasn’t good enough and he knew it. The pounding music was giving him a headache, he couldn’t think straight, and the stress was killing him. Sven kept whimpering him, nudging him, warning him of his own heightened emotional state. He was going to lose it. He was going to leave reality and he didn’t have enough time to ground himself.

Anna’s lips were soft on his, and suddenly reality was crystal clear again. The only thing that was melting away was anxiety. She was warm, and safe, and even though she tasted like alcohol, it was still Anna’s lips he was kissing.

“Don’t,” she whispered, pulling her lips from his slightly, not giving a shit that some were watching them, “just say you’re not going to leave me alone tonight.”

The weight of her words settled on him and he let them sink into his bones.

“I’m not going anywhere.”


	4. Clothes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frohana with Kristanna Babies

Anna didn’t cry as much now when Kristoff left, but it still broke her heart to watch him go. She tried to tell herself that it wasn’t as dangerous anymore. He wasn’t going out on the ice sheets alone in the mountains, he was on dry land with the guards he had attempted to refuse, but had accepted at her behest.

He wasn’t going off to harvest in uncertain conditions, he was just on a trip to visit the kingdom’s outer villages to hear grievances and show a royal presence. The journey wasn’t perilous, and Queen Elsa, Princess Anna and Prince Kristoff were all well-loved throughout the land. The guards accompanying him were really more of a formality and badge of station than an actual necessity, but Anna couldn’t help but fear the worst every time he left home. He had come back to her time and time again, but she could never shake the thought of the day her parents hadn’t.

It didn’t help that she knew for a fact that he didn’t want to go in the first place. She loathed that it was his duty as Arendelle’s crown prince to leave her, and while they occasionally made the trips together, she couldn’t leave when Elsa needed her.

When Kristoff had left, he had hidden his unhappiness well, but not well enough to avoid detection from his wife. He always said before leaving that a few days trip was a small price to pay to be married to her, but she knew that he only said as much to see her smile before he departed. It was evident to her that he hated to leave almost as much as it hurt her to watch him go.

She tugged his shirt sleeves up her arms. They were too long for her, but it didn’t matter. It smelled like him, and the softness of the worn fabric was comforting. He would be back soon enough, but whenever he left, she lived in his clothes.

No one in the castle commented on the way in which she would wear one of his shirts underneath her dress instead of a blouse. They didn’t question the way she would walk around the castle with his formal jacket draped over her shoulders on cool days or how his sash hung awkwardly on her small hips, even with layers of skirts helping it stay up.

None of the guards escorting Kristoff to his destination ever made any mention of the way the Iceman turned Prince kept Anna’s hair ribbon wrapped around his wrist, or the way her embroidered handkerchief looked out of place tucked into the pocket of his masculine jacket. They just marched along and made small talk.

“Mama!”

Anna was pulled out of her thoughts and turned to see a strawberry blond head toddling towards her. She was wearing a shirt that hung off her shoulder and wore more like a gown given its length. Her hair was messy, mouth and cheeks smeared with chocolate to match the eyes she had clearly gotten from her father.

“Sophie!” Anna said, unable to stifle the laugh that accompanied it. She had somehow gotten into the armoire, and managed to snatch one of her father’s shirts, and knowing this Anna could not help but to ask the two-nearly-three-year-old, “What are you wearing my love?”

The little girl giggled and smiled at her mama. “Papa’s shirt!”

Anna opened her arms wide and watched as her daughter ambled quickly over to where she sat on the edge of her bed. When she was close enough she reached out and scooped her up into her arms and pressed kisses to her chubby cheeks. It was nearly bedtime, and when Kristoff was away, Sophie snuggled with Anna instead of in her own little bed in the nursery across the hall.

“Why are you wearing Papa’s shirt?” Anna asked, snuggling her little one closer to her chest and petting her messy hair back into a manageable form.

“Because!”

Anna laughed again, knowing that she wasn’t going to get a better answer than that.

When there was a knock at the door Sophie sprung from her mother’s arm and ran over to it. The large door was heavy and she struggled with the effort of opening it herself.

Anna pushed off the mattress and walked over to the door, helping to open it, knowing who it would reveal.

“Aunt Elsa!” Sophie squealed in excitement, throwing her arms open as soon as she saw the Queen in the doorway.

“Well hello snowflake,” she said, extending her own arms and crouching down to embrace her niece in a warm hug.

“What are you wearing?” she asked with a chuckle, looking up to give her sister a soft smile. She knew full well what she was wearing and who it belonged to. When Kristoff left Elsa missed him as well. They were friends, and as much as she thought she would never learn to trust another living person, their friendship was one of comfort and easy mutual understanding. He had become family just as much as Anna, even before the wedding.

“Papa’s shirt, silly!” she replied, giving her Aunt a stern look that said ‘you know that already’. Evidently the little tyke could bear to answer the question only once.

Elsa smiled and kissed the top of her head, avoiding the chocolate smeared across her mouth and cheeks. Sometimes she was so like Anna that it was hard to see Kristoff in her, that was until she answered questions with such pragmatism. That was certainly something she had picked up from her father.

“Won’t he be sad when he comes home tomorrow and his favorite shirt is dirty?” she teased.

“Nope,” she replied simply before breaking free of her Aunt’s hands and running to the bed to play with her dolls.

Anna turned to her sister and pulled her into an embrace of her own.

“She misses him when he’s gone,” she said into her sister’s shoulder, voice soft.

“We all do,” Elsa replied, happy that she could be there for Anna after so many years. She squeezed her tightly and wondered whether Anna noticed the troll crystal necklace she wore as it was pressed between them.


	5. Because the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A steamy NSFW follow-up to Sometime Around Midnight

Kristoff’s apartment wasn’t the same one Anna remembered him having years before, and it was even more scarcely furnished and decorated than the last. Terrifyingly so. She wondered if he owned anything but the clothes on his back and the couch, coffee maker, and television she could see when she walked in.

She wasn’t going to make a comment about it. It was clear from the moment she recognized him that he wasn’t himself. Maybe she had just put him up on a pedestal in her mind, but he seemed a lot less sure of himself, quieter, like he was lost. She had been like that before, she remembered it like it was yesterday. The confusion, the way it felt to be lost in your own head. She was certain that she didn’t truly understand what it was he was going through, but she had a sense of it.

A clicking sound told her that Sven had been freed from his leash, and a cold nose pressing into the back of her calf confirmed it. He sniffed her all over, and when she scratched him behind the ears, he decided that she was a friend, and jumped up onto the couch, electing to ignore her presence in his home for now.

“Sven, off the couch buddy,” Kristoff said with gentle firmness.

Anna turned and smiled at him as he closed the door. She hadn’t thought that his promise not to leave her tonight had been something he would follow through on. They had both been drinking, but after the kiss they shared, it was undeniable that something within them both had been rekindled that had nothing to do with alcohol.

“He’s fine, it’s his couch,” Anna said softly in response, “I don’t mind sharing it with him if he doesn’t mind sharing it with me.”

To prove her point she strode over to the sofa and sat on it, sinking in to the worn cushions to the dog’s side. His fur was soft and warm, and it was evident why Kristoff would have him as a therapy dog. There was something calming about his presence. There was no companion more loving and nonjudgmental than a dog.

Kristoff watched as Anna slipped her flats off her feet and pulled her legs up and to the side the same way she always had when they lounged on the couch together. He wondered for a moment whether it was the alcohol or the muscle memory that made him sit beside her so that their bodies touched at almost every point. He was blushing, and he knew that he shouldn’t be. She had already kissed him. It was obvious that she wanted to be with him, at least for the night. She hadn’t changed very much in the years since he had last seen her, and he supposed she was still fond of having him pressed to her side, or at least he hoped as much.

She relaxed back into his body in a controlled manner. It felt right, just as it always had, to feel the warmth radiating from his body warming hers. He hadn’t taken his shoes off, curiously, but his jacket was hanging on a hook and his bare arms were even more muscular than they had been when they had wrapped around her for the last time. She wanted to pepper kisses up them like she used to, but she didn’t. Kissing him impulsively after confessing his impact on her had already been too much.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, staring at a blank wall rather than at her face when he said it, words hanging in the air with an air of mourning.

“You weren’t trying to hurt me,” she whispered back. It was something she had realized to be true shortly after he had left. “You had to do what you had to do, and you thought it would be better that way.”

She paused for a moment before continuing, her voice cracking, “You were wrong, you didn’t think it would hurt so bad that way, but it did worse than hurt. It crushed me.”

Tears started to leak from her eyes, as the words she never meant to speak passed her lips. She reached her hand up to cover them, but the damage was already done.

Kristoff’s stare came off the wall and turned to her. He couldn’t find the words to explain rationally, so he just let his emotion take over. He saw Sven perk up and glance at him, but he didn’t really take notice of it.

“Didn’t you realize you deserved better before I told you I was leaving? I saw it. I saw it from the first night I met you that I was holding you back. I didn’t want you to get the letter that said that I died,” when he felt Sven jump from the couch and settle his head in his lap, his voice went soft, “And I couldn’t handle getting a letter about how you finally realized what I had known all along.”

Anna’s mouth opened and shut. She stood up and walked towards the door. It was all too much. She had never expected to see him again, and she was in his apartment, and he was sorry for everything that had happened, and even though that’s all she had ever wanted to hear, it wasn’t good enough anymore. She wanted more than an explanation or a sorry, no matter how heart felt.

Kristoff felt his whole chest tighten when she walked towards the door, and he couldn’t help but stand up and run after her. It was like that night in the bar all over again, but this time she wasn’t leaving with someone, she was just leaving after she had made him promise he wouldn’t. He didn’t think he would ever be alright again if he didn’t catch her this time.

“Anna,” he said as he reached out and grabbed her arm. He knew that he should let her go. He wouldn’t make her stay, but he was finally being faced with the heartache he had tried to spare himself from.

She spun around quickly and pressed her finger into his chest in the most menacing way she could manage. “For your information, I decide what’s best for me. I decide what and who is worthy of me. And I decided that you were before you left. You wouldn’t have gotten that letter because I wouldn’t have sent it.”

He realized that now, and he stared down at his feet, releasing his grip on her arm. His past was haunting him in the worst possible way, and all he wanted to do was go back in time and tell a younger, dumber version of himself that there was no reason to ever leave her. He wished that he were a larger part of her life than just a broken piece of the bigger puzzle.

She put her hand down and kissed him, she kissed him hard because it was all she could do. “You’re an idiot,” she muttered against his lips before wrapping her arms around him and squeezing tightly.

The sudden change of gears threw him off, and he wasn’t certain that this wasn’t all a dream or some kind of hallucination created by his messed-up mind to comfort him through another lonely night. Her lips felt real, he could taste the remnants of alcohol and watermelon chapstick. Even more real to him was the sound of her moan when he kissed her back and pulled her into his arms so that their bodies were pressed tightly together.

That sound drove him wild. He remembered it, and when she didn’t protest, he broke their kiss and lifted her up by her waist so that she could wrap her legs around him.

“I’m an idiot,” he groaned in agreement, his hands feeling the curves of her body as she laughed and kissed him again. He could feel the tears falling from her eyes run across his cheeks as they kissed.

“You are all I wanted. I waited for you,” she reached to her neck and pulled up a small silver ring on a long chain that Kristoff immediately recognized.

He had wondered when he was back in the bar whether she had kept the promise ring he had given her, and to his shock and disbelief, she had been wearing it the whole time. He wondered if she wore it every day, resting against her skin out of sight beneath her shirt. She had held a candle for him the same way she had only dreamed of her. He squeezed her tight and walked away from the door with tears in his eyes. He pulled her up into his arms bridal style and set a course for his bedroom door.

She peppered kissed against his jaw and neck as he walked with such ease that it was as if they hadn’t ever taken a break, and with the hunger of a starved woman. They were in an odd predicament and they were both acutely aware of the fact. However, neither could bring themselves to stop what was happening as he knocked the door open and back closed again, setting her down on his bed like he had dreamt of.

She looked up at him from her place on the bed and then took a quick glance around the room. It was organized and clean, plain and yet inviting. It was a room that suited him well, and he seemed comfortable in it.

When he blushed, realizing that he might have gone too far, she smiled and gave him her best “come hither” look. She really didn’t know what to say or do, it had been so long, but she wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything, and so as he finally knocked his boots off his feet, she pushed her hair behind her ears and pulled off her jacket. She held it for a minute, not knowing if it was too much to haphazardly toss it aside like they used to with their clothes as soon as they hit the bedroom.

Noticing her look of unsureness, he reached his hand out to take her jacket. When she handed it to him he was reminded of just how much smaller she had always been than him. He felt like he wasn’t holding anything, as if there was only one third of an actual jacket in his hand. He placed it carefully on top of his dresser, next to a little box that held the only things that were important to him. Pictures of his fallen friends, his parent’s wedding photo, Sven’s baby teeth, letters from his baby sister, and the small strip of pictures from the photo booth he and Anna had sat in together a few much happier years earlier.

“Do you want to…” he trailed off before he finished. There was no easy way to ask whether or not he had read the signals correctly. He was beyond rusty, and even though she didn’t seem like she had changed, he knew it was unlikely that she would want to pick up where they left off. He had hurt her, and they would talk about it more later, but he wanted to hold her again in his arms. He wanted to press his lips to her bare skin and worship her the way he should have never stopped worshiping her.

Anna laughed again, his time pushing off the bed where he had placed her and catching his hand in hers to pull him down onto the bed with her. “Only if you do. Do you, um, want to?”

Neither had stopped blushing, but when Kristoff laid down beside her, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her again, Anna could hear her own heart pound. She kissed him back, closing her eyes and cautiously let her hands run up the front of his t-shirt. She was sure her fingers felt cool against the warmth of his skin, but he didn’t stop her. She smiled but continued to kiss him when she heard him make the same appreciative groan he always had when she let her hands run over his skin.

He had no concept of how long they spent just lying there kissing and letting their hands run over each other. He relearned her curves and silently cursed himself for ever forgetting them. Her kisses were full of need, and he was desperately trying to keep up and give her everything that he had kept from her for so long.

When her hand dipped below his waistband and her fingers brushed against him so lightly that it felt almost as if it were an accident, everything stopped. He pulled away from the kiss and paid attention to the heaviness of her breathing and the redness of her cheeks. A switch flipped in his mind, and a little voice screamed this is actually happening. He felt like a high schooler, confused and nervous, but excited. Despite the fact that he had already logically known that this was the direction in which they were heading, her touch just made it real.

Anna went to move her hand, worried that she had upset him, but his hand moved to catch her arm. She looked into his eyes, not daring to move as they carefully studied each other’s expressions. He looked at her like a person looked at a flower growing out of a crack in a sidewalk.

“You sure?”

She smiled, “If I say yes do you promise to stop asking?”

He kissed her, a groan escaping as she took his action as an indication that he too was certain, which he was. He would tell her if it were otherwise.

“Fuck, Anna,” he muttered as she slowly ran her hand up and down his length.

His lips shifted to her neck as his fingers toyed with the side zipper on her dress. He couldn’t tell her that he had touched himself while imagining a moment like this. He couldn’t tell her that he had dreamt of finding her again and making love to her all-night long. He couldn’t tell her about how he had imagined her lying naked in his arms every time the death, destruction, and fear got to be too much for him to handle. Instead he decided he would show her.

He tugged her hand away from him and shifted them both so that he was above her. He grabbed the straps on her dress and she obligingly put her arms up and leaned off the mattress so that he could remove her fabric from her body.

She suddenly wished that she had worn something a little sexier beneath her dress. She didn’t go out to bars expecting to comeback with anyone. She had gone to watch a game and throw back a few drinks, and maybe catch up with friends if they showed up. She didn’t have the thought to feel guilty that they might be at the bar looking for her, and she didn’t worry long about Kristoff’s reaction to her granny panties and full coverage bra. He was already unhooking it, pressing his lips to her breasts, touching her hips with the hand he wasn’t using to hold himself up.

She melted as he touched her and kissed her, moaning softly when his kisses moved south towards the only material keeping her from full nudity.

“You first,” she panted. He was still fully clothed, and she wanted something done about it.

He pulled his t-shirt off, revealing a row of sculpted muscle that she had been touching shortly before. Her breath caught in her throat as he tugged off his pants, revealing black boxer briefs and two muscular, but scarred up legs.

Her hand covered her mouth for a moment, and Kristoff’s face changed quickly from a look of desire to a look of fear. His legs were pretty rough looking. He had been in intensive care for quite some time, and had spent even more time with a physical therapist after they healed up to rebuild his muscle. He had been indirectly hit in an explosion caused by a grenade, and had been burned pretty badly. Shrapnel had made chunks out of the muscle, and while it was a blessing that they worked, he couldn’t help but to be incredibly self-conscious about the way they looked.

He looked away from her stare. “Anna, I…”

He didn’t finish his sentence because he felt her moving. She shifted from her place beneath him and pushed him gently until he obligingly leaned back down onto the mattress and rolled onto his back.

Neither said a word as Anna switched up their position until it was her on top of him. Cautiously she touched her hand to his outer thigh, just below the fabric of his boxers, and slowly moved it towards his knee. Her fingers traced the lines of his damaged flesh, and when she had traced it all, she switched to the other.

He didn’t know why tears welled up in his eyes, but he couldn’t stop them from falling down his cheeks when he felt her lips press into his leg. She kissed him up and down both legs until she made her way to the space in-between.

“Anna!” he said, calling over her name like a prayer as she kissed his length through the fabric.

Anna moaned in response before impatiently murmuring, “Can we just skip the rest of the foreplay? I don’t think we need it.”

He laughed, still crying as he pulled her into his arms and pressed their lips together. He pulled down on her panties and she kicked them off before doing the same for his.

As soon as the fabric was gone, her lips were on him. He had forgotten completely how amazing it felt to be in her mouth, and it took all the self-control he had not to come right there and then.

“Shit!” he said suddenly, shocking Anna enough to stop her ministrations.

She stared at him with curiosity until he responded, sounding fairly embarrassed.

“I don’t uh, have a condom.”

She smiled and shrugged. “I mean I’m on the pill and I’m clean, so it won’t be the safest sex ever, but you don’t… you know, have anything either, right?”

He turned even redder and shook his head, “I haven’t… you know… since you.”

She smiled. She might have dated a few guys since he left, but she hadn’t either. She had a vibrator collection back at her apartment to prove it.

“So we’re good?” he asked, pulling her atop him again.

Her laugh was enough to tell him the answer, but she made herself even clearer, “Just fuck me Kris.”


	6. Prank War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kristanna babies. Family fluff and silliness.

“Do you really this is a good idea?” Peter said softly as he hid with his younger sister below his parent’s bed. He was getting much too old for these sorts of pranks, though he couldn’t deny the genius of their latest plan. At the ripe age of seven years old Peter was beginning to look more and more like his father by the day. His blonde hair was short and his nose round and wide. His eyes however, blue and full of life, were uncannily his mother’s. Though he had her eyes, he not inherited her playful mischievousness nearly as much as his younger sister had. Rather he had the sensibility of his Aunt and the penchant for hard work like his father.

“Of course it is, we’ve been doing things like this for weeks!” The strawberry blonde piped from her place beside him. Her hair was in a long ponytail behind her, one which she twisted and played with as they sat in their hideout, in anticipation. “Mom and Dad don’t get mad, they get even.” The little girl responded replaying the last few weeks in her head. It had all began with a bucket of feathers above her mother’s door and had turned into a vicious prank war with both sides trying to outdo each other by pranking each other into submission.

After the water bucket incident drenched their mother in her favorite dress Peter had gone to the stables to ride his horse and had been treated to his father’s revenge in the form of hiding his tack in several different locations. He still hadn’t found one of the leather straps, and the last time he had tried to ride without it, the saddle had slid upon stopping, making him slip off and into a puddle. He had to go back into the castle covered in mud and manure passing by the giggling young scullery maid he doesn’t have a crush on because “girls are gross”.

They fired back by sneaking into the kitchen before dinner and dumped every spice they could possibly come up with into their father’s soup. He hated spicy food, and they had received quite a laugh from watching him spit a mouthful of the stuff towards their Aunt Elsa. The best part had been him trying to explain, but being drown out by their hysterics.

In return their mother had decided to tell the children that they would be having a ball to celebrate the signing of a trade agreement and had them prepare for the event with all their least favorite activities, visiting the royal tailor, repeating diplomacy lessons, and taking dance lessons. When they arrived, in the middle of the room there was simply a small toy ball with “trade agreement” written on it and a note attached reading “Gotcha”. Sophia had been particularly sad as, at the age of nearly five, it would have been her first ball ever. Of course, she should have known it was a trick, as no little girl was allowed to go to a ball before her fifth birthday ball. Still though she had been hopeful and the lack of sweets had broken her heart.

Their new plan for vengeance was simple. It was nearly time for their parents to turn in for the night, and after being tucked in for the night themselves, they had left their beds and snuck into their parents’ room. Peter and Sophia had spent the better part of the day hunting frogs that were currently in a box covered by the sheets on the bed above. As soon as they peeled back the covers to go to sleep, there would be frogs everywhere.

They watched from under the bed as the door opened and the easily identifiable boots on their father’s feet and their mother’s skirts walked into the room and towards the armoire. Peter prayed that the frogs stay silent as their parents changed so as to not ruin the prank, and Sophia barely stifled a laugh as they walked towards the bed after changing into their bed clothes.

Sophia screamed as she felt her father jump into the center of the bed where they had hidden the frogs without peeling back the sheet. They both scrambled from under the bed, wide eyed and with Peter screaming “Dad! The Frogs!”

They were shocked to see their mother laughing as they crawled out from beneath the bed, box of frogs in her hands. Their father, too, was laughing from his place on the bed. The children were both thoroughly shocked, and silently grateful that they hadn’t accidentally caused the death of fifteen or so innocent frogs.

“You should see your faces!” Anna said to her children between bouts of laughter, “Really kids? Frogs?”

Kristoff chimed in, “Snakes would have been something though, if we hadn’t seen you put them in the bed and had it been snakes, you probably would have killed your mother from fright.”

Anna shot her husband a look and stuck out her tongue. She still stood that her fear of snakes was entirely rational.

Placing the box of frogs, now with a lid, on top of the nightstand, Anna opened her arms to hug her children. “I’m sorry we scared you that badly though my loves.”

The pair ran to give their mother a hug and kiss, their father getting off the bed and wrapping his arms around the three most important people in his life.

“Now off to bed with you,” Kristoff said, kissing his son and daughter’s heads. “It’s past your bedtime.”

Peter went to the door first, he respected his father and tried to be the more obedient child, despite his love of tricks and fun.

When he touched the knob to open the door it felt cold on his hand and attempting to turn it, he found that it would not. He looked to see that it was not locked and tried to turn it again. It wouldn’t budge.

He looked towards his parents with a curious look.

“Dad, the door won’t open.”

Kristoff gave him a confused look, and was about to walk over to try it for himself when they heard a laugh come from the other side of the door. It was unmistakable what had happened.

“While that thaws out I suggest that the four of you discuss a truce.”

“Elsa!” Anna shouted, marching towards the door, “You unfreeze this door this minute!”

There was no response at the other side of the door, only the clicking sound of her sister’s heels walking to the opposite end of the hallway.

They were all left to discuss a truce in begrudging agreement as to who had really won the prank war.


	7. The Librarian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Modern AU, Single Dad Kristoff and Librarian Anna

Books spoke to Anna. She never could quite understand why, but it was true. A good novel could tell her things in whispers that taught her more than any teacher ever could. She supposed that it was that truth that caused her to go through the years of training required to be a librarian.

The stacks became a home to her when her fiancé left her, but she had always had a place there. It was the only place she could be herself without boundaries except for the boundaries of time. She never had enough of it, but when she was into a particularly good novel, that universal law even seemed to bend to her will.

She lifted up her clipboard and glanced down at the white paper covered in script and scribbles. The cap of her pen tapped against her cheek as she looked it over again and turned to the shelves. A book was missing, it had been gone for at least three days. It wasn’t uncommon, considering it was from the children’s section, and Anna wondered if it were perhaps still in the room. There was no record of it being checked out after its previous return, so she thought that it might have simply fallen behind a shelf or maybe that it was on the seat of a chair or below a table. She set her clipboard down on the shelf’s top. She would continue her search later. She had other more important matters at hand that required her immediate attention.

Plucking another book off the shelf she strode across the children’s literature room. It was a wide space with shelves on all its walls, stopping only for the line of windows on the exterior wall. In the center of the room there were computers with tiny keyboards and bright blue mice just large enough for little hands. There too, was a fish tank full of shiny orange goldfish and tiny plastic tropical plants. She walked past them with a smile as a little girl typed away on the keyboard with surprising accuracy. She was using a typing trainer program that was set up like a word game. Almost all the games preloaded onto the computers were educational, but the way children played them, they either didn’t realize they were learning, or didn’t care because they were having so much fun.

When she made it to the opposite side of the room, a large shelf was already emptied of its contents, and little faces smiled up at her from the brightly colored cushions that they had already removed from the wooden shelving. To their sides, sometimes on the floor, sometimes in chairs, were parents looking equal parts tired and happy. This was their break for the day.

Anna smiled warmly and sat in a rocking chair before the gathered audience. “Today we’re going to read a story about a kitty cat,” she said as the children cheered and tired parents grinned.

“This kitty’s name is Mittens, and she’s a Princess from the Kingdom of yarn.”

Some of the kids, mostly the little girls, excited for a Princess story, leaned in as Anna began to read the story.

***

The kids giggled as they picked out books of their own and their mothers and fathers waved and smiled back to Anna as they walked through the door with their little ones in toe. They were all heading for the circulation desk to bring stories of their own choice back home.

Anna sighed a little as she put the pillows back into the deep wooden shelves from which they had originated. She pushed back the chairs and made her way back to the shelf where her clipboard still sat. She set the book back into its place and picked up her sheet again. She was certain that it had to be in the building somewhere. Maybe a child had simply placed it on a shelf somewhere in the rest of the building while their parents picked books of their own.

When the prior children’s librarian went out on pregnancy leave, Anna took over the responsibility of tending to the section in addition to her original position caring for the Romance novels. When she never returned and she and her husband moved across the country, Anna had become the permanent Children’s librarian. She still took care of the romance section, but it took up less of her time than the Children’s section.

At first she hadn’t expected to like it. She didn’t have any children of her own, and her own childhood didn’t give her much room to relate to the kids she was surrounded with. Her parents, for all of their love, had been strict, and when her sister had fallen ill they had become even more so. However, despite her lack of relatability to them, they had all awoken her inner child again. Reading to them had become the highlight of her day.

Staring at the sheet again, she realized that she had already marked off every nook and cranny of the room as searched. Her shoulders slumped slightly with the realization that she would have to spend the rest of the day searching the rest of the building for its location.

“Mam!” a voice called out to her, causing her to turn in the direction of the sound.

There she saw a man with a little girl holding onto his hand for dear life. The little girl had dark brown hair and green eyes, but her face made it clear that the tall blonde man standing in front of her was her father. They had the same wide nose and bright cheeks, the same big ears, and the same mouth.

She shyly stood behind her father, one hand gripping a book, and eyes on her shoes. She was a pretty little girl, but she looked as though she were going to cry.

“Yes?” Anna called in response, looking at the father who had called out to her.

He was handsome. Broad shoulders and t-shirt tight across his chest, where it wasn’t covered by a flannel. He looked like he worked for a living, and certainly wasn’t anything like the stay at home dads she was used to. His chin was covered in rough stubble, and while he looked extremely tired, he had still taken the time to bring his little girl to the library for story time.

Anna hadn’t thought about such a think in a very long time, but she decided right there and then that whatever “type” of man he was, he was her type.

The man gestured forward gently and the little girl, still looking as though the tears in her eyes would fall any moment, walked over to Anna and placed the book in her hands. She didn’t say anything and scurried quickly to stand behind her father.

He reached behind his back and gently collected her hand. “I’m sorry, she’s a little shy, but she wanted to apologize for taking that book without taking it out. We were here a few days ago and she put it in her backpack and forgot to check it out. She found it this morning and cried the whole way here.”

Anna glanced down at the book. It was the one missing from her checklist, and she was somewhat relieved that she wouldn’t have to search the whole library for it.

“It’s alright,” she responded, stooping down to smile at the little girl hiding behind her father’s legs, “I do that sometimes too.”

When Anna stood up, the man took a step towards her. He smiled and responded a bit shyly himself, “Thank you. She was worried you wouldn’t want to read to her anymore.”

Anna waved off the thought, “I would never do that. If you love books,” she said directing her words to the little girl, “Then I love reading to you.”

The little girl finally poked her head out from behind his legs. “Will you read me that one? Daddy was too busy before we had to bring it back.”

The man blushed red, “Claire you shouldn’t….”

He trailed off though when Anna smiled and nodded, “Of course I will, but aren’t you hungry now? It’s almost lunchtime.”

The little girl stepped out from behind her father, evidently deciding to be brave now that she knew that she wouldn’t be in trouble. “Daddy is taking me to McDonalds. You should come too Miss Anna, you can read me the story!”

Anna laughed and gave the exasperated looking man a shy smile. He was obviously at a profound lack of words, and so Anna turned again to his daughter. “But I can’t leave work, and I’m sure your daddy wants to spend time with you by himself. I’ll read you the story before you go if you’d like.”

The little girl looked sad and glanced down at her shoes, “ But Daddy and I are always alone. It’s just us and our puppy Sven.”

He had finally found his voice when he reached out to hold the little girl’s hand again, “Sweetie, she has to work, okay? She can’t come because then she’d be in trouble. We should go eat sweetie, I took the day off so we could go see a movie too. Miss Anna can read you the story next week, okay?”

The little girl squeezed her father’s hand and whispered, “Okay,” in return. When she glanced back up to his face, she had hope in her eyes, “Can I go look at the fish first Daddy?”

He stooped down and kissed her forehead, which she took as permission to run over to the tank and make faces at the goldfish. When he stood back up he smiled at Anna.

“Thank you for being so kind to her,” he said, “I’m sorry if we caused you any trouble.”

Anna shook her head and smiled, “It’s no problem. She seems like a sweet girl.”

He smiled and glanced back over to Claire, “She really is.” When he looked back he realized that he had forgotten something important. He stuck his hand out, “I’m Kristoff by the way.”

Anna took it and shook firmly. His hands were calloused. He certainly worked for a living, and she couldn’t help but blush when her mind wandered to image what he would look like without the shirt.

“Kristoff,” she repeated like she were making sure that she remembered it, as if she hadn’t had it burned into her brain the moment it came from his mouth, “You know, if you think that it would make her happy, I could read her the book now. I get off work in an hour and I really don’t have anything to do between now and then. It wouldn’t take long, and you guys could out for lunch.”

“Would you, uh, maybe want to read it to her at lunch? We can wait an hour no problem, she still needs to pick out a book and if I let her she’d stare at those fish until the library closes. I mean it’s the least we can do. You know, buy you lunch, after the trouble we caused.”

Anna’s romance book brain knew enough to tell her that for the first time in forever she was being asked out on a date. While she didn’t imagine her first date after her fiancé left her being McDonalds lunch with a man she had just met and his five year old, she could hardly say she wasn’t interested.

They were both blushing, and Anna couldn’t think of a good response, so she simply said, “Well I just wouldn’t be a good Children’s librarian if I didn’t know what this month’s happy meal toy was, right?”

Kristoff gave her an odd look for a moment before they both erupted into laughter. Neither was good at this, and they both knew it.

“I agree.”

Anna heard the silent message he meant to convey.

So it’s a date.


	8. Skiing Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff!

“It’s easy, you did fine getting here and heading up the hill. Just remember to keep your body low. You’re more in control that way and if you fall over you don’t have as far to go.”

Anna held onto her poles tightly and stared at the hill in front of her. She felt her legs go weak beneath her skirts. She was familiar with the hill, and skiing down it with Kristoff’s instruction had seemed like a great idea while she was still warm and dry in the castle. She hadn’t ever experienced what it felt like to stand on skis, and Kristoff had been overgenerous in his statement that she had done fine.

She had a pain in her butt and hip that begged to differ on that belief. She had fallen many times already just moving from the castle to the hill. Of course she had gotten up each time and tried again, because she wasn’t one to give up on anything.

The poles felt clunky in her hands and the had never seemed quite so high before, not even when she was a child and had sledded down it for the first time. She knew that she should just tell Kristoff that she wasn’t ready and return to the castle with him to return another day, but she had made it this far, and her doggedness wouldn’t let her turn back.

“It’s okay if you’re scared,” Kristoff said with a smile, “You’re doing pretty good for someone who never skied before feisty pants.”

She knew he was lying, out of love, but still lying. Of course, she hadn’t skied before, and she knew she wasn’t doing a good job. She had rarely ever left the castle, and the only time she had ever seen anyone on skis was when she watched soldiers perform winter drills before her father. It had been an extremely long time and she had forgotten about it since. Skis were only a part of a sled.

So, when she had watched Kristoff skiing around to bring items to and from the troll’s valley the last time they had gone up into the mountains together, she had been confused. Once he explained that it was a much more common means of transportation than she had thought, she had begged him to teach her.

He had laughed about it, but he couldn’t deny her requests, especially when they were so small. So, there they stood together on a hill that he thought looked more like a bump. Of course, he wouldn’t say that to her. He saw that her face was pale and that there was worry in her eyes. He wouldn’t pick on her about something that she had no experience in. After all he had been afraid when she had taught him the nuances of the Arendelle royal court. He was just happy to be teaching her something that she really wanted to know.

“I’m not scared,” she said, and it sounded like a blatant lie, even to her own ears. She felt shaky all over, her fingers twitching on the pole from their place in the fabric of her mittens. It didn’t have anything to do with the cold.

He held up his hands. Unlike her, he wasn’t using poles. He told her he only needed them if he was going to move fast, and while he hadn’t said that they wouldn’t be moving fast, Anna knew that he had already anticipated her difficulties with learning the skill. He hadn’t fallen even once, staying upright the whole time and portraying confidence with his every move. He had been skiing since he was young, and he was being a very kind and understanding teacher, but Anna was embarrassed over how often she was failing, especially because she was failing in front of him.

“Okay,” he said, “Do you want to go first, or do you want me to go so you can watch?”

“You can go first,” she said, not taking more than a moment to respond. She was already about to ask him to go first anyway.

“Alright. Remember, poles behind you, stay low and don’t cross your skis,” he looked back at her, and once she nodded he skied forward and leaned until he was speeding down the hill.

He was going faster than she had thought he would go. Long forgotten were her days of sledding down the same hill or she would have remembered how deceptively steep the incline of the hill was. She saw him stop at the bottom and wave to her. For her it were as if she were on top of one of the castle’s towers and he was in the courtyard.

She slid one ski forward, trying to get a better look at where she was heading, and suddenly it didn’t matter, because she was moving down the hill and it was all she could do to stay upright.

She felt her skirts swirling around her legs as she desperately tried to keep her skis from crossing each other. She locked her knees, knowing logically that it wouldn’t help and ducked down to lower her center of gravity. Her poles hit behind her and threw her off balance, but she managed to stay upright.

Kristoff was cheering for her as she approached the bottom, but she realized with terror that there was a lesson she was missing. How to stop.

Kristoff had assumed that Anna would slow to a stop in front of him, or that she would at least steer away from him, but when he noticed the petrified look on her face it was already too late for him to move. She didn’t weigh much, but when she crashed into him at full speed, her momentum was enough to knock them both to the ground.

The powdery snow puffed up into the air around them, and Anna, atop Kristoff awkwardly with her skis sticking out in random directions, could not move or even speak. Tears welled up in her eyes due to equal parts fear and embarrassment. She could not believe that she had just done that.

Kristoff exploded in laughter when the air she had knocked out of him returned to his lungs. He leaned up to where Anna’s face was plastered with a look of absolute and total terror, and kissed her cheek.

“You did great!”

Anna blinked. “Great?” she pushed herself up and off of him, only to stand up on crossed skis, attempt to correct herself, and end up back in the snow.

“Yeah, for your first time,” he stood up and offered her his hand, “You’re really getting the hang of this feisty pants.”

She stared at him, dumbfounded and then accepted his help. Upon returning to standing position she kissed his lips softly.

“Next time,” she said as he leaned his forehead onto hers, holding her waist so that she wouldn’t slip, “Make sure you teach me to stop before you go down the hill.”

He chuckled and kissed her again. “Next time it’ll be a mountain.”

He ignored her groan and took off his skis before helping her with her own, holding onto her, and falling purposely into the snow to hold and kiss her as fresh flakes fell from the blue sky above.


	9. Wingman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sven is Kristoff's wingman.

“I guess we should get going, huh?” Kristoff asked Anna as he noticed the sky darkening.

He had agreed to take Anna up to see the trolls to discuss some “royal business” that had ended up being stories from his childhood. He was already over being annoyed with her for tricking him, even though she insisted that she hadn’t done so in the first place. “I’m royal and I’m going about my business”, she had said, “so it was royal business.” Much to his dismay and despite many attempts it was impossible to talk her into his point of view on the topic even though he knew that she saw his point.

Anna lazily sprawled out on Kristoff’s bed when he stood up. It was the only place to sit in his small cabin, and she had been dying to recline on it completely since they had both sat on it to talk before returning to the castle.

“We could just stay the night here. I already told Elsa that’s what we’d be doing anyway. She’s not going to expect us back until morning,” she twisted one of her braids around her finger and then let it fall, repeating the motion over and over out of boredom. She didn’t shift from her spot on the bed, unwilling to leave, even if it was what Kristoff wanted. She was too tired to leave, and more than that, she was too stubborn to go.

“Yeah, but people will talk Anna, you know that.”

She scoffed, “Let them talk. They’ll find something to talk about anyway whether it’s true or not.”

Kristoff sighed and walked towards a rough wooden door that led into Sven’s stable, “If we can make it back safely we’re going, okay feisty pants? Even if your sister really is okay with you staying the night, I’m sure she’d feel a lot better about you being home.”

“If?” Anna called incredulously, “Are you implying that I’m lying?”

Pulling the door open and making to exit the room Kristoff called back, “No, I’m just saying I wouldn’t like to live out the rest of my life as a slush pile if she changed her mind.”

He heard Anna call out a reply akin to “you know that’s not how she is”, but busied himself with picking up Sven’s tack instead of responding. The leather was shiny and well kempt, Kristoff didn’t own many things, but like his sled, he took great pride and care of what he did.

“Sven!” he called as he approached a pile of hay topped by a pile of grey fur that was remaining decidedly immobile despite his call.

“Come on buddy!”

The reindeer didn’t move, and instead gave his friend a very annoyed snort to let Kristoff know that he had no interest in going anywhere.

The whole space smelled like dry hay and dirt. A single lantern was lit, hanging on the thin board wall above a barrel of water. Despite the cold outside the small size of it, Sven’s warmth, and its proximity to the cabin where a hot fire blazed kept it comfortably warm. Kristoff assumed that it was the reason why his friend was so unwilling to get up.

“Sven we’ve got to get Anna home. I don’t want to go out either, it’s cold, but we’ve got to do it.”

He was treated to another annoyed snort by the reindeer who was now utterly disregarding his friend’s words entirely. To bed back down into the hay.

“She can’t stay the night, unless you want to share some of that hay stack with me, you know I’ve only got the one bed.”

Sven did look up then, and Kristoff didn’t need to speak for him. It was obvious that the reindeer’s bored looking expression said “you idiot”.

And Kristoff felt like an idiot because suddenly Anna pulling him over to his bed to “talk” and her sprawling out across it meant something more than just her usual friendliness. Having only one bed for them both to spend the night on had been her plan the whole time, and as he blushed he had to appreciate the fact that his reindeer was a better wingman than any man he could ever imagine. After all he had just saved him from himself.

Grabbing a carrot he had stashed in his pocket, he tossed it to his friend in thanks and turned back, with a red face, to return to his bed with Anna.


	10. Perfection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sled sex- NSFW!

When Kristoff’s sled wasn’t in use, it was kept a converted storage building outside the castle. It was next to the stables, and near enough to the castle that it didn’t take Kristoff long to get to it. He made repairs there, and when he needed to get out of the castle for a little while, he just went out there and sat. Sometimes he’d bring a book with him, other times he’d sit in the sled’s seat and crunch numbers relating to his business on a scrap of paper. Sometimes he would just sit alone and think.

However, the building as of late had earned another use, one that he had never imagined it would have until he had walked into it about a week prior. It was after a particularly stressful night of pretending he belonged at a table full of royals discussing trade agreements over dinner.

Anna must have sensed his anxiety from how quickly he left the meal, but he hadn’t expected that she would have known where he would go. Until that night he had no idea that anyone knew that he went there to escape. But she had known, and when he had opened the door, he had seen her sitting in his sled with her feet up insisting that he talk with her. He hadn’t expected “talk to me” to end with “make love to me in the back of your sled”, but it had, and ever since, when they both needed to work off some frustration, they would meet in the small building where no one would go looking for them.

“Hey,” Anna called as Kristoff entered the building. She was lighting lanterns and hanging them on the walls to provide some light. It was mid fall and it had finally gotten dark enough outside for them both to slip out unnoticed. Not that anyone ever noticed when Kristoff left the castle. He was the Ice Master and Delivered, and wasn’t compelled to stay there by anyone except Anna. He could go anywhere as he pleased and didn’t have to say a word about it. However, the crown Princess sneaking out, even to stay on the castle grounds, was a bit trickier, so they only met in the shed after dark.

From the looks he had received from some of Anna’s very red-faced personal maids, he wasn’t certain if she had been “sneaking out”, or whether she had simply told them what she was up to and instructed them not to say a word or ask any questions. They were equally likely possibilities he supposed, and as much as he liked to keep their nighttime escapades private, it was up to her to share as little or as much as she would like. After all she was the one most directly affected by what was said about their relationship.

Of course, he was a very private man and didn’t like the idea of having his sex life discussed by others, but her romantic choices had a higher implication than his did. He chose to be with her because he loved her, not a foreign concept for a man of low birth, but Princesses married for station, and while he knew that Elsa already approved of them marrying, he and Anna had decided to wait. They knew they loved each other and there was no reason to rush in.

That being said, the crown princess not being married and sneaking off in the night to shag an ice cutter in a storage shed could cause some stir in the royal community, and he didn’t want that for Anna, even if she didn’t care.

“Hey,” he called back, closing the door and dropping the wooden latch he had added to the door so that it couldn’t be opened from the outside without force. He was fairly certain that no one knew where they were, but a little extra precaution couldn’t hurt.

“You wouldn’t believe the amount of party planning I’ve been doing. I mean I understand that Christmas is a big deal and all, but it’s October. I’ve got two months. Half the dignitaries we invite don’t show up anyway, but I still have to make sure there’s a guest room for them and their wife and their twelve kids. Twelve? Can you imagine?”

Kristoff chuckled. “Twelve doesn’t seem like a lot when you grow up in a family of fifty.”

He was stressed himself, but mainly due to the fact that he would have to go harvesting again with the return of the cold weather, and he wasn’t sure if he was prepared to go. Even with a half a month until the first predicted hard freeze he felt like there was something holding him back from being ready to go. His heart knew that it was Anna, they had been seeing each other for little over two years, but it still hurt whenever he left her. He wasn’t insecure in leaving her, he loved her and she loved him, but rather he hated being away from her long.

“Trust me I’d much rather find space for fifty trolls than room for a royal family of fourteen.”

She flicked her hand back and forth in the air until the match she held between her fingers went out with a thin line of smoke. Her hair wasn’t up as it usually was, and she was wearing a night gown rather than the day dress she had been wearing when he saw her last. It wasn’t too uncommon for their evening rendezvous, but with the chill outside he hoped that she had worn a cloak in.

When he sighed and removed his jacket she walked over to him and started to unbutton his shirt. Her fingers worked quickly, with the ease that came from muscle memory, and he leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead, smiling when she let out a contented sigh and he felt her rid him of his shirt.

He used to get embarrassed when she did this. But now there was no pretense needed, neither had to ask the other, they just knew that if they were both there in the evening that they wanted each other. It had taken him a while to get over his embarrassment and to stop asking her every five minutes if she really wanted him to touch her or not. He let her lead, and that solved the problem for him. She knew that she could stop whenever she wanted to and that he would respect her wished, and he knew that he could ask her to stop whenever he wanted and that she would accept it and stop.

She pressed a kiss to his lips, standing on her bare tip toes, her slippers already abandoned for the feel of packed earth beneath her toes. Her lips were met graciously by his, and it wasn’t long before he was carding the fingers of one hand through her long wavy hair and wrapping the other gently around her waist.

Her arms wrapped around him lightly as they kissed, and when her lips moved to his jaw, down his neck, and to his chest, she felt him carefully part her hair and begin unbuttoning the back of her nightgown.

The air was cool, and when the fabric fell from her shoulders, she was hit with the same small dose of self-consciousness she always felt when she was bare before him. She hadn’t worn any undergarments, they were unnecessary, but when he moved away slightly to take in the sight of her, she wished that she had. One arm went up to cover the breasts she thought were too small, and her other hand moved quickly to cover the space that she couldn’t entirely hide when crossing her legs.

“I wish you wouldn’t be so nervous,” Kristoff said softly as he looked at her.

There was something akin to hurt in his eyes, but there wasn’t any anger or judgement. It was always like this, she would cover herself up, and then remember it was safe to show him all of her.

“Sorry, you know I just worry that I’m not…”

“Not what?” he asked stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her, covering her, keeping her warm with the heat of his skin on hers.

“Normal,” she said, so softly he could hardly hear it being said.

He kissed her cheek and pulled her up and into his arms, looking down at her as he walked towards the sled in the center of the room.

“Does that really worry you so much that you cover up every time I look at you?”

She nodded, cheeks red and the embarrassed flush continuing down her freckled skin, so that her shoulders and the top of her chest were the same shade of blush. She always acted this way, but they had never really talked about it.

He brought her to the back of the sled and set her down on the saddle blanket that kept the fear of inappropriate splinters at bay. Looking her over and blushing himself he laid beside her so that they were face to face, one of his arms draped over her waist again, keeping her body close to his for warmth.

“You know I’ve… been with other women before… we talked about it the first time we, uh, did this.”

She nodded, it wasn’t something she had held against him. He had been a twenty one year old man when they met, and she didn’t expect him to have never been with anyone else before. She wasn’t even angry at the other women he had slept with, she didn’t blame them for wanting him, even though he had assured her that it was never anything more than a single night, she knew that there were others out there that had had him first and before her, but she intended to keep him forever. For that she almost felt pity for them. They should have held him tight and never let him go.

“Well trust me then when I say you’re better than normal, okay?”

She nodded again, then looked down at herself, “You mean they’re not too small? And… that… isn’t weird?”

He was almost as red as she was as he reached his hand down to touch her. He let his fingers stroke her clit gently, hoping that it wasn’t too sudden, and feeling emboldened by the soft noises she made when he let a finger slip inside her, “This is perfect… you’re perfect. There’s nothing wrong with you. Not a single thing. I love you.”

She kissed him, he had said the magic words, and despite still feeling some small amount of anxiety left over she felt a shiver of pleasure flow over her. She let her hands travel to the bulge in his trousers in return. The sound of his voice whispering her name rid her of the last of her fear, and she tugged at his waistband until he was forced to pull his hand from her and remove them himself making him was as bare as she was.

She already had the look of his body committed to memory, the way his muscles looked under his skin, and the softness of his body despite its strength that made her feel warm, safe, and loved. She loved every inch of him, from his brown eyes, to his hairy feet, and to that one birthmark that only she and he knew about.

As they were facing each other, he pulled her in for a kiss, and her hand immediately grabbed hold of his rear. Despite a moment of momentary shock, he wasn’t surprised, and smiled against her lips as she chuckled for a moment and kissed him back.

Their bodies pressed closer and closer together until Anna could feel his cock pressing into her thighs. She never ceased to be shocked by the sheer size of it, and was pleasantly surprised each time he filled her perfectly. She had always assumed that there would be pain involved with sex, but not with Kristoff. He was large, and as such sometimes she felt overstretched, but after a moment the feeling would go away, replaced by his love and the ecstasy of being loved by him.

He let his hands wander across her skin, tracing each curve with his fingers and palming her rear. He squeezed in retaliation, but unlike him, she didn’t jump. Rather, she made a soft sound of contentment followed by a soft laugh. If she had it her way she would have him grabbing her ass on a daily basis. She loved his appreciation of it, and it was one thing she never felt overly self-conscious about.

She pulled away from him after a moment, and he rolled onto his back as she straddled him. Before he could realize what she was up to, her mouth was on him, and he couldn’t help but revel in the ecstasy he felt when her pink lips wrapped around his cock. The last time she had done so, she had worn lip rouge and the image of it smearing was still a picture he replayed in his mind on lonely nights.

As she sucked on his dick and ran her tongue over him in ways that she only knew, ways that made him shiver and groan, he had taken to touching her, running his hands over her, murmuring how much her loved her as she loved him with her mouth.

“Anna, stop,” he said suddenly, stuttering, but in a calm tone.

She did as he asked, smiling at him and wiping mouth before he pulled her mouth to his, kissing her quickly and passionately until she pulled away and he knew that she was ready.

“Do you want me to?” he asked carefully, wondering if she needed him to return the favor.

She shook her head, “Just fuck me Kris.”

He didn’t need any other invitation. They shifted position so that she was on her back with her knees up and when he leaned over her he didn’t even have a moment to think before her hand was on him, guiding him towards her entrance.

He smiled as she blushed. Something in his chest always swelled with pride when she wanted him so badly. She wasn’t the only one who was self-conscious when it came to their activities after dark.

When she felt him push into her, everything in her mind melted away until nothing existed but him, and nothing existed but their moment together. He was perfect for her, filling her up, and while the initial stretch she felt was unpleasant, she knew that it wouldn’t have been so bad if not for her own rush and skipping of foreplay. The ecstasy of being filled with him, the touch of their skin and the transfer of body heat, was enough to make up for it and then some.

He thrust into her slowly and she wished that he would speed up the pace. He never did though, not in the beginning, even if she asked. He said it was because he didn’t want to hurt her, and though she knew that he wouldn’t hurt her regardless, it was an opinion she allowed him.

“Anna,” he said reverently as he sped up slightly, his voice soft as if he were speaking a prayer, “I love you.”

She moaned in return, as she watched his eyes sparkle above her. His words sent shivers up her spine, and it already felt like pure bliss to have him moving in and out of her, rhythmically.

“Love you too.”

She bucked her own hips up, half lidded eyes his clue to keep up what he was doing even though he already felt close from all the work she had done. He momentarily cursed himself for not taking the time to go down on her in return, but from the moment she had asked him to fuck her, he knew that he couldn’t postpone her request.

She moaned again, and the sound sent shivers down his spine and straight to his cock. He needed to make her feel good. It was a need innate, something that was a part of him as sure as his need to breathe, but despite himself, the words passed his lips.

“I think I’m…”

Before he could say anything else, a wide eyed Anna pushed him off her and he, in a daze, fell back into a seated position near the sled’s front. Her mouth was on him in moments, and he change in sensation didn’t slow him down any.

He was deep red when it was over and he watched her swallow. He never was so quick, and he was embarrassed. It had felt so good to be inside her, and her mouth was a thing of wickedness that had cursed him to an early end. She however, had no such feelings on the matter, evident from the way in which she laid across his legs, breasts glistening with sweat and hair a beautiful disaster.

“We should do this more often,” she said softly, looking up at the ceiling, lips smiling and her position relaxed.

“Sorry I didn’t”

She cut him off, “Don’t.”

He looked at her quizzically, though he wasn’t sure if she could see his face.

“You can make it up to me tomorrow.”

When she popped back up and looked at him, the devil was in her eyes and he realized that maybe it wasn’t entirely his fault that he hadn’t lasted very long. Her smile was wicked, and his heart skipped a beat realizing that making him cum first had been her plan all along.

He groaned, but smiled, realizing that she had ensured that he would be waiting for her at the same time tomorrow.

She felt warm all over as he pulled her into his arms. She couldn’t tell him that she had almost orgasmed the moment he touched her and called her perfect. She couldn’t tell him that she had held back her own pleasure to focus on his in gratitude. All she could do was snuggle into his skin and revel in the thought that she would be able to meet him again the next night in the same fashion. When he kissed her shoulder and said “You win”, she felt as perfect as he promised she was.


	11. Music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Domestic/ warm n' cozy Kristoff and Anna heart to heart moments about music and family.

Anna rarely played the piano since her mother passed away. It was she that had taught her, refusing private tutors and using lessons as a way to bond with her younger daughter. Anna still remembered the much larger hands softly hitting the drawing room piano’s keys with her as if it were yesterday.

Her hands were just as large now as hers were then, and when they pressed the keys down, the sound was never as lovely to her ears. Despite the compliments she received from others on her ability, she knew that her playing could never match that of her mothers. Even so, she couldn’t stay away from the gleam of the ivory keys during the holiday season. Her mother wouldn’t have wanted her to walk away from the piano, especially not when there were Christmas songs to be played.

She carefully opened the piano’s lid, ensuring the lid prop that held it aloft was secure before walking to its front and gently lifting the fallboard up to reveal the keys. She sat slowly onto the bench, not bothering to remove her sheet music from within. She didn’t need it for what she planned to play. It was her favorite song, one she and her mother had played together a hundred times, especially when she was just learning. It was simple.

Anna’s fingers shook as she slowly pressed the keys slowly, carefully, in order to make the song come to life. The sound was clear, and despite her hesitation and shaking hands, she was on beat as she played.

Her fingers shifted from key to key as she closed her eyes and thought of all the times her mother had played it to her, and all the times her mother had hummed it to her as a lullaby. Sometimes, even now as an adult, she would hear it in other tunes as if the rhythm were so engrained in her, that she just picked it up in everything. Sometimes she wondered if her heart beat in time with the tune, and that was why she was always so deeply affected by it. Realistically she knew that it was simply because it reminded her of her mother.

She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there, or how many times she had repeated the song, playing the melody. Hearing a harmonizing tune shocked her into opening her eyes at long last. She didn’t need to see in order to play such a familiar song, so she was shocked the presence of another when she opened her eyes.

Kristoff smiled at her shyly as he continued to pluck at the strings of his lute, playing opposite her piano. He looked calm, and there was nothing in the way he played that indicated he was any less skilled than she was. In fact, his lack of sheet music and evident ease made it appear that he knew the song as well as Anna.

Neither said a word to the other, but when Kristoff opened his mouth and started to sing along with part of the song, Anna’s heart was warmed by the sound of it.

Greensleeves was all my joy  
Greensleeves was my delight  
Greensleeves was my heart of gold  
And who but my lady greensleeves

If you intend to be this way  
It does the more enrapture me  
And even so I still remain  
A lover in captivity

Greensleeves was all my joy  
Greensleeves was my delight  
Greensleeves was my heart of gold  
And who but my lady greensleeves

At the conclusion of his singing her fingers left the keys and she laughed.

Her smile made him feel light, and though he wasn’t sure why she was laughing, he smiled back at her and took joy in the happy sound of it.

“I’ve never heard those lyrics before,” she said as she started to play the song again, loving the way it sounded when he plucked the strings of his lute to follow her. “When my mother and I played it we sang this.”

As the intro of the song ended Anna started to sing softly,

What child is this, who, laid to rest  
On Mary’s lap, is sleeping?  
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,  
While shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ the King,  
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:  
Haste, haste to bring him laud,  
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

So bring Him incense, gold, and myrrh,  
Come peasant king to own Him,  
The King of kings, salvation brings,  
Let loving hearts enthrone Him.

Raise, raise the song on high,  
The Virgin sings her lullaby:  
Joy, joy, for Christ is born,  
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

When the song ended Kristoff smiled and set down his lute, walking over to Anna to sit on the piano bench beside her. “I’ve never heard it sung that way before.”

Anna’s cheeks warmed as she lowered her hands from the piano and laced her fingers into his on the hand between them. He didn’t say anything else, but she knew that he could tell she had been upset. It was in his quietness, and in the way he hadn’t questioned her. He was always quiet when he was concerned.

“My mom and I used to play it every Christmas you know,” she didn’t meet his eye. He hadn’t grown up with a mother so she always felt as if she were being unfairly upset whenever she talked about the life and death of her own.

He never minded hearing her talk about her parents. He didn’t remember his, but he had the trolls, and he could imagine that the pain of losing parents would feel like the pain of losing one of them. He couldn’t imagine the depth of Anna’s heartbreak, and so he just listened.

“She called it ‘What Child is This’, but I guess it’s the same as your…”

“Greensleeves,” he offered. It was the first song he had ever learned to play on his lute. It was a simple enough tune, familiar, slow, and soft like a lullabye.

“I think Mom would have liked it that way too,” she said with a smile, “she liked love songs.”

He chuckled and smiled, “The first verse isn’t as romantic. It’s about lady Greensleeves slighting her lover.”

She laughed in return, “Then she would have like it even better. You know she snubbed my father five times before she finally accepted his offer for a first date.”

“Really?” He asked, one eyebrow raised. Portraits of the King and Queen painted them as such a happy couple, he never imagined their romance being anything but love at first sight.

“Yes, she said he was too prideful for her, so she slighted him until he realized that being the crown Prince wouldn’t get him everything he wanted. The way he told it, he all but groveled at her feet for weeks until she agreed to attend a ball he was holding in her honor. I think she would have loved to hear a song like that.”

“Want me to teach you the words?” Kristoff asked, happy to see her smiling. When he had walked in, she had looked so lost, eyes closed and fingers on the piano, face expressionless. He hadn’t even realized that she knew how to play, and he had never seen anyone play an instrument so emotionlessly.

Anna smiled, fingers leaving his for the piano keys, but leaning in until their shoulders touched. “I would love that.”


	12. Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good old fashioned modern AU meet cute. Best experienced if you imagine awkward freshman girl Anna and jaded, but inexperienced junior/senior Kristoff.

Anna couldn’t help but stare. He was just drinking his coffee, like he did every day, but she was bored and trying to imagine what he was thinking. His eyes gave away nothing. There was a newspaper to his left but he wasn’t reading it. He was at one of the booths by the window, but he wasn’t looking outside. He had sent a text a few minutes before, but now he was just staring off into space, taking sips of his coffee.

What is his deal? Anna thought to herself as she scrutinized him further, her own coffee going cold in her hand.

She had to leave in less than a quarter hour to go to class, she always left before him, and always when she felt as though he were finally about to do something, or meet up with someone, or generally do anything to give Anna some insight as to why he sat there everyday in the same place, at the same time, with the same coffee.

When he turned and noticed her staring she nearly squealed, but instead nervously stared into her open coffee cup. It was purple, and the cap was off to allow the steamy hot liquid inside to cool. It was one of her three reusable travel mugs, and today it held what a chalkboard behind the café counter described as an “expertly made cappuccino”. Anna could only assume that by expertly made they meant hastily thrown together by a barista who obviously wanted to be doing anything other than working the morning shift. Not that Anna blamed her, she wouldn’t want to work the morning shift either, and while it wasn’t pretty, the coffee tasted fine anyway.

She thought about pulling her phone out of her pocket to pretend she was doing something. The idea struck her to pretend she had only been staring out the window and not at him, but when she peered back up he was staring at her, and when she saw him smirk she knew she had been caught.

Shit.

She looked back down, but it was already too late.

“What’s your deal?” she asked, unfortunately realizing too late that it was not in her head but aloud.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he said, giving her a curious look. He had noticed her watching him every morning for the last two weeks. When he hadn’t seen her the day before he had been concerned that she had fallen ill. He had almost asked the barista if she had come in early, but hadn’t because he knew it really wasn’t any of his business. Still though, he felt as though it were long past time for them to speak. After all a person didn’t stare at you for hours because they had nothing to say to you.

Anna turned to look at him, her eyes wide, “What do you mean by that?”

“Well I just sit here drinking my coffee every morning, you’re the one that burns holes into the side of my head.”

Anna opened her mouth to retort, but when no words came she closed it and hoped her blush wasn’t as bright as it felt. “Sorry, I don’t mean to stare. You just look so focused I wonder what you’re thinking about.”

She was blushing. Her eyes wouldn’t meet his and he knew her nervousness should make him feel bad for her, but he couldn’t help but start to laugh. “I only look serious because I’m thinking of how much I don’t want to go to class.”

She was taken aback by his laughter, but after a moment in a quiet huff she interjected, “Well I don’t want to go to my lecture either, but you don’t see me staring off like a brooding stranger in a romance novel.”

He quirked an eyebrow at her, “Brooding stranger, huh? Well that’s a new one. Most people just say I look angry all the time.”

She sighed, “You don’t look angry, you look deep in thought.”

“I hope not,” he responded, “My face gets all scrunched and ugly when I think about things.”

Anna couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Well you don’t look ugly, more the opposite really.”

She blushed at her own words, but wasn’t too concerned at her boldness when his cheeks went red in return.

“I… uh, thanks…” he paused, realizing he had no idea what her name was. She always brought her own mug too, so he couldn’t sneak a peek at the writing on a cardboard cup to help himself out.

“Anna,” she said as she left the chair of her high top table and walked towards his booth.

“Anna,” he repeated as she took a few steps towards him, “I’m Kristoff by the way.”

She smiled, “I thought it was Christopher,” she said pointing to his coffee cup, on which the name “Chris” had been written.

He shrugged, “You’d be surprised how often I get that.”

“Well I mean you don’t meet many Kristoffs,” she said before pointing to his cup to add, “Plus before I started bringing my own mug they got my name wrong all the time. Anna’s a normal enough name, you’d think they wouldn’t spell it like Anya or write Andrea, but they did.”

She looked back and forth as if someone were watching them before she put her hand to the side of her mouth to whisper to him, “Really I think they do it on purpose sometimes.”

Kristoff laughed and smiled at her, “I’ve got to get going in a few. So assuming you go to Arendelle University, do you want a ride to campus?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off but his stammering.

“I mean, I don’t usually take people places, but you, uh, seem nice. I swear I’m not like a serial killer or anything. But really I guess that’s what a serial killer would say… wow. Uh, you can say no. I mean, we just met and all, but I just thought I’d offer because I already feel like I…”

Anna cut in then, “Know you?”

She was smiling and Kristoff took a breath and returned it. “Yeah.”

Zipping up her jacket and adjusting her bag’s shoulder strap she nodded, “Me too, and while I’d love to take you up on your offer, I drove.” She pulled her keys from her pocket. “But I might need a ride to dinner tonight,” she continued, smiling and blushing at her own boldness as she continued, “so if you give me your number I’d love to accept.”


	13. Christmas Eve Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another canon-verse wedding.

The lacing on her corset was so tight that she thought for a moment that her ribs would crack and pierce a hole through her lungs. That would be just her luck, to die on her wedding day. She tried not to think about it. She was normally an eternal optimist, but the fear of her perfect day going up in flames was terrifying to her.

She couldn’t help but imagine the worst possible problems to occur. What if Elsa got overly emotional and accidentally froze something, or worse if she froze someone, or worst of all, if she forgot about her insistence that Anna wear a gown made of magical snow and ice crystals and in her absentmindedness just allows it to melt away leaving Anna naked in the church. She shuddered at the thought as a lady’s maid pulled and twisted her hair into a bun and braids despite her wavy red hair’s most ardent attempts to not follow directions. Anna wasn’t sure how many pins were in her hair, but she was certain that it had to be hundreds.

She worried about the church and the priest and the entire wedding ritual. What if something came up? It was the night before Christmas, and the only reason her wedding was set for the day at all was because of the high traffic of dignitaries both foreign and domestic that had already planned to be in Arendelle for the Holidays. It was Elsa’s idea, because despite the possible complications of having a church wedding hours before one of the largest church holidays of the year, having many other royals and merchants, and people in power around meant that they were sending a clear message about Arendelle’s future. Specifically that the Queen was a woman in control, and that Arendelle no longer cared for the lines drawn between the aristocracy its and citizens.

All that mattered to Anna was that she was finally marrying Kristoff. She didn’t want anything to go wrong that might change that. It had been two years since they met, and strain of keeping their relationship proper for public consumption had put a strain on them both. Anna wanted to kiss him in public, and feel the press of his hands low on her waist when they danced together, but even after they were engaged those were things they had to reserve for marriage. He had been far more accepting of such limitations than she had, but they wouldn’t exist anymore after they walked down the aisle together. That was why it had to be perfect. There couldn’t be a single thread for a jealous royal to tug at.

She tried to calm herself with the knowledge that Elsa, Kristoff, and the entirety of the palace staff understood as much. They had an army of people behind them, ensuring everything would go off without a hitch.

As her tiara and veil were pinned into her hair, she sighed out a grateful “Thank you” before standing up and running over to her window for air.

Her head maid chased after her to pull her corset laces even tighter, lest the Princess look as though she ate breakfast that morning when she certainly hadn’t.

***

Kristoff tugged at the collar of his formal jacket and sighed in discontent. He was thrilled to be marrying Anna finally, but he knew that this ceremony wasn’t truly for them. This was a public viewing of them in a moment that was supposed to be the most intimate night of their lives.

He secretly wondered if royal protocol required someone watch them on their wedding night to ensure their marriage was properly consummated. Of course he knew that it was too uncouth for royalty to even think of such a thing, but he wasn’t royal, at least not yet.

Elsa had warned him ahead of time that they would be scrutinized for their every move at the wedding. He had been fitted for and made a suit fit for a prince, and even though he was dressed to the nines he didn’t feel like he was ready to marry Anna. No one seemed to think he deserved to anyway.

Leaning over his dresser and staring at himself in the mirror he barely felt like himself. His hair had been cut short and neat, he was clean shaven and there was some kind of weird fringe hanging from his shoulders. He was uncomfortable, and he didn’t understand why so many layers and little baubles were required to simply marry the woman who was the only person he’d ever loved enough to wed.

He’d be good though. He’d walk down the aisle, stand tall, and show everyone watching him that he was worthy of her. He didn’t care what they thought, and he didn’t care if it was selfish of him, but all he cared about was being enough for her. Being enough for them wasn’t his prerogative. He only cared to win Anna and Elsa’s approval.

“Mr. Bjorgman,” Kai called from the opposite side of the room, “It’s time.”

Kristoff closed his eyes for a moment, trying to remember everything he had ever been taught about what it was to be royal. He was sure he had forgotten something, but as long as he could get through the night, nothing else mattered. He felt a pang in his heart and opened his eyes. While for most of his life he had never imagined getting married in the first place, it hurt to realize that his wedding was just something to get through. He wanted more for himself, and more importantly he wanted more for Anna.

“Thank you Kai,” he replied to the fatherly old gentleman as he walked to meet him at the door, “I appreciate everything you’ve done.”

Kai smiled, touched, although he didn’t say it. “It’s my job Mr. Bjorgman,” he paused for a moment, looking over the young man before him and thought to himself that his young mistress had selected quite a kind man for herself, something which pleased him immensely, “But thank you for the appreciation, and you’re welcome.”

They walked out the door together and headed for the castle chapel, Kristoff’s mind full of thoughts and Kai’s full of worries for whether the preparations had been properly made.

***

“My God,” Elsa said, covering her mouth as she looked at her little sister, “what did they do to you? Snap ribs?”

With a wave of her hand the corset layer of Anna’s dress re-laced itself to Anna’s usual liking. It felt cool on Anna’s skin as it occurred, but Elsa had seemingly mastered the talent of making ice crystals bend to her will, stay warm, and somehow through the miracle of magic, not melt.

Anna took a deep breath and pulled her sister in for a grateful hug, the veil over her face pressing into her sister’s cheek as she did so.

“They’re still intact, but I don’t know how much longer they would have made it. I was about to pass out, and I’d bet you anything that if fell I would have punctured both lungs and died.”

“A bit dramatic, don’t you think?” Elsa teased before linking her arm through her sisters. “Wait until you see Kristoff. He looks handsome.”

“He always does,” Anna replied, “Does he look happy though?”

Elsa smiled and patted her sister’s arm reassuringly, “He does. Despite all the eyes scrutinizing his every move. I think he’s just happy to be marrying you at long last.”

Anna’s smile grew as the wedding march started and Elsa handed her a bouquet of ice roses. Elsa had gone a bit extreme when using her abilities. The only thing Anna had refused was an ice chemise and shoes. That, she felt, was going a bit too far.

She stepped between the pews, following her sister’s lead down the aisle. A few steps ahead were her flower girls, two young girls from the city who had been selected via a drawing from a pool of volunteers. They were gleefully tossing petals along the aisle as they passed.

When Anna looked straight ahead she saw Kristoff staring at her and grinning like a child who got to open his Christmas gift early. Elsa hadn’t embellished at all in her description. He looked happy, though she might have understated when she said he looked handsome.

Anna had never known Kristoff to look royal, but he looked more attractive than all of the Prince Charmings in her childhood stories combined. The white jacket suited him well, the red trim and sash reminding her of Christmas, and the gold fringe capping his shoulders nearly making her laugh. His eyes were full of love, she could see it even at a distance. She wanted to rush to him and press a kiss to his lips, ceremony and propriety be damned. The only thing keeping her back was the steady pressure of her sister’s arm through hers.

Kristoff always thought Anna looked beautiful, but in her wedding gown, walking down the aisle to become his wife, she stole his breath away. He knew Elsa was making her a dress, but she had truly outdone herself. He didn’t know much about fashion or dresses, but he knew that the white gown was lovely and suited his bride well. He couldn’t wait to tip back her frosty veil and kiss her for an unnecessarily long time.

The priest spoke up, shaking them both from their thoughts. “And who is it who gives this woman away to be married to this man?”

“She gives herself away,” Elsa announced before the room, her voice loud and clear, making Anna smile. She had grown so much since her coronation, from a girl who feared her own power, to a woman in total control of herself. She was a commanding presence as she continued, “She has my blessing as her elder sister and also as Queen of this land.” 

When Elsa released Anna’s arm and stepped away, Kristoff offered Anna his hand. She took it, holding her bouquet in the other, and stepped up to face him. When her hand fell away from his, and it was time to begin, they both wanted nothing more than for it to be over. The ceremony was tedious, and it truly didn’t mean much for either of them. It wasn’t the intimate affair Anna had always dreamt of, and it wasn’t the wedding Kristoff had expected having been raised by the trolls. 

As the priest began to speak, Kristoff whispered to Anna, “You look beautiful.”

Anna grinned, her blush already visible beneath her thin veil. “Really? Elsa didn’t go too overboard with the ice crystals did she?”

Kristoff barely stifled a chuckle, “No, it’s perfect. Trust me. Ice is my life.”

Anna did laugh softly, and she knew that she should pay attention to the priest’s words, but couldn’t bring herself to focus when her handsome soon-to-be-husband was staring at her like she were the only thing he could see.

She only perked up when she heard her name.

“Princess Anna of Arendelle will you have this man to be your husband; to live together with him in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto him as long as you both shall live?”

She looked up into Kristoff’s eyes, and saw joy in them. He loved her, and he knew what her reply would be before she even opened her mouth.

“I will.”

“Kristoff Bjorgman, will you have this woman to be your wife; to live together with her in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto her as long as you both shall live?”

He smiled and without hesitation and without taking his eyes off her said, “I will.”

The priest, satisfied with their answers turned to face the assembled mixture of commoners, merchants, royals, visiting dignitaries, and acquaintances. “Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?”

A resounding “We will,” filled the church, and the rings were called for.

Kristoff spoke as he lifted one from the pillow on which they were presented before him. “In the name of God, I, Kristoff Bjorgman, take you, Anna of Arendelle, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, in storms and in sunshine. When you jump, I’ll catch you. I’ll always come back for you. I’ll always take you where you need to go. I’ll always love you, because from the moment I met you, I always have. This is my solemn vow.”

Anna felt tears start to form in the corners of her eyes as he slipped the ring on her finger, just barely shaking as he did so. She didn’t think that he had written his own vows, let alone vows that so perfectly captured their relationship.

Taking the other ring, she took his right hand and spoke, “In the name of God, I, Anna of Arendelle, take you, Kristoff Bjorgman, to be my husband, to have and to hold form this day forward, until death do us part and beyond. I will love you with everything I have, and share with you my heart and my kingdom. You will be my equal in our union, as you have always been. This is my solemn vow.”

Kristoff knew that he should let his hand drop after she slid the ring onto his finger with equally shaking hands, but he turned it over in Anna’s and held on tightly, loving the way in which her small hand felt in his. She was finally going to be his wife, and that alone made his heart race.

“Having witnessed your vows of love to one another, it is my joy to present you to all gathered here as husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Kristoff released her hand and pulled back her veil. He didn’t have time to kiss her however, because as soon as the fabric was out of the way, her lips were on his. He wrapped his arms around her. Tomorrow the Christmas ball would serve as their reception, and when their lips parted and they walked back down the aisle together as husband and wife, Kristoff found himself looking forward to a royal event for the first time. He couldn’t wait to show the world that he was happily married at long last to the love of his life.


	14. Bodyguard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Modern AU/ Modern Princess Anna AU with Bodyguard/ Royal guard! Kristoff

Kristoff could see Anna imploding before his very eyes, but he kept his distance. All eyes were on her and if he stepped in now there would be questions, and he couldn’t let that happen. Questions meant more eyes on them. Rumors had already been quashed once in the last six months and the last thing he needed was for them to come up again. No one knew his name yet, and he needed to keep it that way. He was just a body guard, she was the crown Princess of a whole nation.

Although he knew he couldn’t do anything, he was just waiting for an excuse to step in. He hoped the way his eyes were burning through Hans’s head was enough of an indication to the smarmy royal bastard that he was not wanted in the room. However he was never wanted and it never stopped him. He was too smart to step out of line enough to get banned from the castle, and without any threat of violence on his part, he was untouchable.

It was all he could do to hide his balled up, shaking fists behind his back, and keep Sven at his side as Hans kissed Anna’s hand. He saw his lips move to mutter something to the red head, and she coolly replied something he couldn’t hear. He had no doubt it was something snarky, especially with the side eye it earned her from her sister.

“That’s my girl,” Kristoff muttered under his breath as he readjusted his grip on Sven’s leash and watched as Hans walked over to the Queen. He was part of Anna’s official detail, but he still paid attention to the way in which Hans acted towards the Queen. He took his position as a royal guardsman seriously, far more seriously than his ceremonial sword, shoulder fringe, and floofy hat made him appear.

He was the only K-9 handling member of the Royal guard to ever be given an official guard position over the heir apparent. Additionally he had recently been given a silent promotion to the head of the Princess’s guard. It was the only thing keeping him in line, and he knew he had been given the position to keep him from flying off the handle like he wished he could.

He had grown up at Anna and Elsa’s side, an orphan adopted unofficially by the crown and taken under the wing of the castle’s resident kennel master and while that was hardly public knowledge, it had a lot to do with the reason he was so close to her. They had played together as children in the castle halls, and even though it wasn’t strictly “proper” Anna would often sneak down to the stables to help Kristoff with tending to the horses and hounds. He still remembered the heartbroken look in her eyes when he left the castle at eighteen. She had only been fifteen at the time, and even though she understood why he felt he had to leave home, she had been angry with him for leaving.

He had been shocked when Queen Elsa took the throne, and he had been given a position on the royal guard. Of course he had already been in Arendelle’s military from the age of eighteen and supposed he should have expected it to happen when he returned home and accidentally stumbled into Anna, recently separated from her fiancé, much to the uproar of the public. He was one of the first people she had told about his drinking problem, and his interest in her for her crown, rather than for her personality. He had been her shoulder to cry on when she felt she couldn’t face her sister, let alone the public.

He wasn’t sure how much Elsa had known about their relationship then, the way Anna had kissed him, and the way he had held her, knowing that she shouldn’t be in his arms at all. The way she had begged him to stay home, cried into his shirt, and told him things about the three years he had been gone that left him shaking with anger. It had only been a few weeks after that he had been called to serve on Anna’s guard, so he supposed that she had known about at least some of their closeness. If she didn’t then, she did by the second month, when a royal watcher had caught her holding his hand while in the stables and damage control had to be run to ensure the rumors and photos related to the event never made it out to the public.

As of two months after the event, he was made her guard captain with Sven as his unofficial second in charge. He was a trained fighter, but Anna’s treats were making him into a chubby, lazy palace pup. This was his first week in charge, and he was already dying to kill a man just for looking at Anna wrong.

From her body language, he could only assume she wanted to do the same. He kept his eye on her, as she shook more hands on the receiving line. She could handle herself and he knew it. It was unlikely there were any threats more than conversational insults that would need to be fended off. Four sets of security and a manicured guest list made him comfortable with such an assumption, but his unique relationship with Anna meant his concerns went deeper than that.

When he saw a change in her body language, her shifting back, body going limp, he surged forward to meet her, Sven at his side when he caught her against his chest.

A few people gasped, and the duchess whose hand Anna had been about to shake looked as though she were about to have a heart attack. Anna, however despite breathlessness said simply, “I’m feeling a bit faint.”

Kristoff knew she wasn’t actually ill, he had seen her do this when they were children, and if it weren’t for the sake of proper manners, something that had been beaten into him for the past half year, he would have chided her on the spot. She held onto his arm as he righted her once more, and he knew that in a moment he would be leading her from the ballroom to her chambers.

“Oh dear, it’s these dresses, terribly tight and warm,” the elderly duchess said as she patted Anna’s hand maternally, recovering rather quickly from the shock.

She looked about ready to pull out a fan and personally ‘save’ the princess as Anna spoke up, looking ruefully to the rest of the receiving line and then back to the duchess, “You’ll have to excuse me, I’ve been feeling ill today,” she said, looking then towards Elsa, who despite a mild look of annoyance that was only noticeable to Kristoff and Anna, seemed more than willing to go along with her sister’s feigned illness.

“Perhaps you should lie down Anna,” the blonde spoke, glancing to Kristoff and giving him a look that said everything he needed to know.

“I think I will, thank you,” Anna said, then turning her attention to the duchess and those behind her in line, “If you’ll forgive my rudeness, I must take my leave.”

The remainder of the line bowed and curtsied appropriately and Kristoff waved off the rest of his charges as they approached to assist him in escorting the princess to her room. One of the two female guards on Anna’s detail did follow however to keep up appearances as Kristoff had asked previously, and when the three walked from the room, she looked to Kristoff for instruction.

“The princess won’t need any medical attention, will you Princess Anna?” Kristoff said addressing both ladies in his presence as the woman a year his elder pulled a walkie from a belt hidden by her formal coat.

Anna shook her head, “I just need sleep, Captain Bjorgman will see to my care. You may guard my door however, if it pleases you,” she said, directly addressing the young woman.

She bowed in response, and Kristoff muttered orders to her surreptitiously, “You are to stand by the door and tell anyone with questions that the Princess was simply overly warm. However within the half hour you can leave and tell the rest of the detail that they have an early night off. The princess will not be leaving her room tonight, and unless there is an emergency I’ll be her night guard. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir!” the young woman replied, keeping a respectable distance behind Anna, Kristoff, and Sven as they ascended the castle’s stairs to the royal wing. She knew, as the entirety of the royal guard did, that Kristoff was involved with Anna. However because discretion was their policy, they didn’t speak of it, unless of course they were in the barracks without Kristoff, another guard captain, or god forbid the Commander. Then they spoke freely about how they imagined the Captain was shagging the Princess, but only to one another.

When Kristoff was fairly certain they were out of earshot, he squeezed Anna’s arm a little tighter and whispered into her ear, “You can’t just fake illness because you want to be alone with me.”

“I can do what I like,” Anna said smiling, “Don’t forget I outrank you Captain.”

“Don’t pull rank with me,” he said back, hating how much he enjoyed hearing her call him Captain when she was misbehaving, “And you know Elsa will back me up and she outranks us all.”

She sighed, “Just like when we were kids, you two never let me get away with anything.”

“Because we don’t want anything to happen to you,” he reminded, though he could point out any of the millions of things he had let her get away with in the last week alone. He had the worst time denying her anything if it was in his power to grant, and he even allowed her requests far out of his power if he could stretch himself thin enough to find a way. It was always worth it to see her smile.

“I couldn’t take the way he was staring at me,” she said as they reached her door and he let them both in, usual procedure of security sweep and leave be damned.

“I couldn’t take the way he was staring at you either,” he admitted as the door swung closed behind them and Sven ran off through a nearby open door to the dog bed Anna had requested for him in her office.

As soon as they glanced around to be certain they were alone, Anna’s mouth was on his. He closed his eyes and gave in, wrapping his arms around her gently and running one hand up and down her back gently.

She squeezed him tightly as tears began to form in her eyes and her mouth opened for his tongue.

He kissed her fiercely, one hand moving to her hair to cradle her as they kissed. He let her hands wander across his chest, untucking his dress shirt from his trousers beneath his formal jacket just to feel the warmth of his skin on her fingertips. He knew it would be a manner of moments before he would be pulling pins from her hair, placing her tiara on a bedside table, and unlacing her overly ornate gown.

“I wish we could just uninvite him from everything,” She said as their lips parted and he wiped away her tears with the side of his hand, not caring that the mascara that came away with it was darkening his skin.

“He can’t touch you Anna. He can say what he likes and he can shake your hand, but that’s all he’ll ever be able to do.”

Anna sniffled and sighed, kissing his cheek, “I know, but just that look on his face.”

“That look might say that he had you once, but it’s nothing compared to the way he stares and knows he’ll never be able to have you again,” he interrupted pulling her in tighter than he had before, “He knows that you won, and no matter what he does he’ll die one day with the memory of how badly he lost to you.”

“You make love sound like a battlefield,” she said softly, “with winners and losers and death.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, “Maybe it is, but I’m just as soldier, so I guess I’ll never know.”

With that she caught his lips with hers for another kiss and wriggled out of his touch in order to walk towards her bed, “The soldier that my sister is trying to promote high enough to be allowed to marry a Princess,” she said with a blush as she collapsed onto her mattress.

“Marry?” he asked, cheeks red, suddenly embarrassed. The last time that they had spoken of marriage was when he left the castle at eighteen, when she had tried to talk him into staying, when she had offered him every royal title she could imagine, when she had begged him to become her husband if only to stay by her side.

She hadn’t known much about love back then, but now that she did, throwing around a word like marriage meant a lot more.

“Yeah,” Anna said, although she felt like she had already said too much, after all it had been a bit less than a half a year since he had come home, and even though they had been together since the first night, they weren’t even officially dating. She had never fallen out of love with him though, even when Hans had been her fiancé, she had never given up the dream she’d had since thirteen, to marry her childhood best friend even if it seemed impossible.

“Is that… is that even possible?” he asked, mind racing almost as fast as his heart. He was a commoner, an orphan, his only title was from his association with the military, and through that the crown.

“Yes,” Anna said, blushing crimson, “But only if you want to. Technically we could right now, even if you were just taking care of the horses and hounds like when we were kids. Royals can marry commoners, it’s been done. However there’d be a bit less of a fuss if you were a high ranking officer.”

“You mean like the captain of the heir apparent’s guard,” he said, looking at her, hoping that she wasn’t confusing his shock for any kind of upsetness or rejection.

“Exactly like that, though there’ll be some people being upset given you’ve been given a lot of access to me and my chambers without supervision. But it’s the twenty-first century and Elsa and I have agreed that they’ll just have to get over it. I’m not marrying for power ever again. I’ve been given express permission to marry for love.”

They were both blushing when Kristoff came to sit beside her on her bed, his fingers moving to free her hair from the pins that held it up into a perfectly styled braids and bun combination.

She sighed as his fingers pulled out the pins that made her head hurt. When he removed them all and set her tiara aside, she melted into him. He hadn’t said anything else about marriage, but she knew that he got quiet when he was thinking. She practically moaned when his fingers gently massaged her scalp, chasing away the last of the soreness she felt from her hair being tugged on.

He unlaced the back of her dress as she unbuttoned his jacket and undershirt. Despite the years she had been Princess and the years he had spent in the military neither cared to be dressed in their formal clothes when they could help it. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt below the other layers he removed with her help, and when she slid off her gown she wore a camisole and a tight pair of shorts. Though they had seen each other naked, they more often preferred to lie together in her bed in their underclothes. Contrary to palace chatter, they had yet to sleep together, but neither had said that they were unwilling, it was more that they were happy to be together without adding that element to their relationship quite yet. Kristoff knew that a day would come where that would occur, but it hadn’t yet, and it wasn’t tonight.

Laying back on the bed, unbuckling his belt, saber, gun, walkie talkie and all, he laid it on her nightstand beside her crown. She unbuttoned his pants and slid them off, tugging her dress off and letting it crumple onto the floor beside his layers. When she fell back into his arms with ease, he pulled them both into the center of the fluffy duvet and she put her head on his chest, ignoring the pillows that surrounded her.

They reclined together and shared kisses and caresses in quiet as she calmed and melted into him, letting her body be surrounded by his.

“You know I’d like that one day.”

Anna smiled into his shirt and cuddled into his side, saying nothing. He already knew that she was thrilled, and yet unsurprised. Her eyes fell shut, her ear against his heart. She knew that he would take care of her for the night, and for the rest of their lives. She didn’t need to be married to him to know that he loved her. She had known that since he had kissed her the night before he left for basic training. The way he had asked her first, and the way he had almost stayed after seeing her cry.

It all felt so long ago, but the way he held her told her that they had picked up where they had left off, and that one day soon, they were going to move even further forward.

When she fell asleep in his arms, he let his eyes close too. He knew he should stay awake to watch over her, but anyone that wanted to get to her would have to get through him first, his body wrapped around hers, keeping her warm and safe.


	15. Troll Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A follow up to the Christmas Eve Wedding.

Anna laughed aloud as Kristoff carried her through the castle’s front door. He insisted on carrying her over the threshold. Despite their wedding not being exactly what they would have planned for themselves, they were happy, smiling and laughing.

Anna tipped her head up to kiss his neck for the fifth time since leaving the church and was shocked when Kristoff didn’t lean down to kiss her back. He was too busy staring straight forward, dumbstruck at something that Anna couldn’t see from her vantage point in his arms. When she craned her neck to look straight ahead, she realized why he looked so confused. The front hall of the castle was full of trolls, crystals and candles.

“What’s going on Ma?” Kristoff asked Bulda, picking her out beside cliff and Grand Pabbie in the front of the mob of grinning trolls.

“You’re getting married!” she announced, much to the joy of the other trolls, and even more to the confusion of the couple before them.

It wasn’t the first time he had heard his family say that, but it wasn’t any less confusing this time. Setting Anna down carefully and taking a step towards his very large and extended adoptive family he patted the little ones on their bald stone heads and spoke again to his mother.

“We just got married Ma. I told you we’d come up to the valley the day after tomorrow,” he said, humor present in his voice. The unexpected arrival of his family wasn’t enough to throw him off or dampen his mood, especially not when he noticed Anna step forward into the candle light and pick up his little siblings and cousins one by one, despite their weight, and give them hugs and kisses.

“Not in the eyes of nature honey, you need a real wedding, not one without your family.”

It was then that he noticed Elsa, somewhat in the shadows, walk in with Sven. He couldn’t tell at the distance, but she seemed to be smiling. He should have known that she would have been part of it. Royal expectations meant that they had to have a certain type of public wedding, but what happened in the privacy of their home after was not for the consumption of the public, and Elsa would do anything to see Anna smile.

Anna perked up at the conversation Kristoff was having with Bulda. Some of the littlest trolls were still clinging to her legs as she stepped towards him, realizing that Elsa had entered the room and that something was going on beyond congratulations. Although she had assumed something was going on when she had seen the trolls and the change of décor, she wasn’t quite sure of what to expect.

“What do you think Anna honey?”

Anna, now beside her husband, and the children at her feet, smiled. “What’s going on Bulda?”

“Oh please honey, call me mom,” Bulda said, reaching up to take Anna’s hand with a smile. “Kristoff and I were just talking about the wedding.”

“It was nice,” Anna said reflexively, “I’m sorry you couldn’t attend, but Elsa and I were worried about─”

“Oh honey, I know there were too many of us to fit in that church, I wasn’t talking about that anyhow. I was talking about the wedding you’re about to have,” her voice was warm and assured, there was no room for doubt in her mind that a wedding was about to occur.

“Oh!” Anna said, the pieces finally making a bigger picture in her mind. Finally, all the candles, crystals, and present company made sense. She smiled from ear to ear. Something had felt wrong about the church wedding. It had been impersonal, and not all the family they cared for had been able to attend.

Kristoff sighed as he watched Anna’s face light up, and he took the hand his mother was not holding into his own. “If you don’t want to─”

“Yes,” Anna said, cutting him off in her excitement, “Absolutely yes.”

“So it’s settled then!” Cliff shouted from his placed beside his wife. The rest of the family, including Sven and Elsa cheered.

It felt like scarcely a moment after that Anna was being whisked away from her husband and up to her room to be redressed. The trolls seemed to have little concern for modesty and Anna’s possible opinions on it as they stripped her wedding gown from her. Elsa arrived in time to tell them that, yes, they really should leave her corset and underthings on, and that she would be happy to help her sister into her new gown.

Anna sighed a breath of relief when Elsa took over from the troll maidens and matrons, sending them off to assist with the other last minute details.

“Did you have a hand in this?” Anna asked her older sister with a chuckle, “Or did they just show up out of the blue and decide I needed to be married twice in one night?”

Elsa laughed, “I may have invited them and planned a bit, though my understanding was that if I didn’t do so they would be here never the less. If you’re not happy with it though, I’m sure I could talk to Pabbie. He listens to reason and they all listen to him.”

Anna shook her head as her sister helped her into a much simpler green shift dress, “I’m happy actually. It didn’t really feel like my wedding without everyone I loved there.”

Elsa made quick work of tying the green cloak around her shoulders, and draping her with crystals, adding a few of her own in ice here and there. “I’m glad to hear that,” she said, relief in her voice as she unpinned her sister’s hair, letting it fall into waves down past her shoulders.

“Is it crazy that I feel nervous again?” she asked her elder sister as she continued dressing her. Her stomach was a mess of butterflies from the first moment she had understood what was happening. Legally Kristoff was already her husband, but the idea of marrying him in a sense that was amicable to his family and evidently to the very laws of nature, she was equal parts anxious and excited.

Elsa stepped away from her duties for a moment to stand before her sister. “Not that I have a lot of experience, but I would be nervous too. That being said I don’t know if we can rule out crazy as an answer.”

Anna smacked her older sister playfully across the shoulder. Elsa feigned pain, but it wasn’t convincing as they both broke into a fit of laughter. If nothing else Anna was happy that her sister would attend her wedding instead of the Queen of Arendelle.

Anna reached out for the crown of sticks and crystals she had seen once before. It was just as beautiful as it had been the first time the trolls had tried to marry them, but now she placed it upon her own head, knowing what it meant.

“I don’t know if this is how we imagined it when we were kids, but you’re a beautiful bride Anna,” Elsa said, smiling at her sister and taking in the way she looked surrounded by natural materials. Of course she had always been stunning in green, so it was no surprise to Elsa that she glowed in the gown she had selected for her and the ceremonial garb the trolls had insisted upon.

Anna smiled in return to her sister’s grin. Hearing her sister’s words, she couldn’t help but ask, “What do you think Mom and Dad would have thought?”

Elsa didn’t miss a beat, she knew that her little sister was bound to ask the question at some point or another. If it were her wedding she would have done the same. “Dad would have said his little sunflower had grown up and Mom would have told you that you were beautiful while dabbing up dad’s tears.”

Anna laughed, it was common knowledge between the two of them, despite the issues their parents had, that their mother was the far more emotionally balanced of the pair. “Do you think they would have liked Kristoff?”

Elsa nodded, taking her sister’s hands in her own and patting them gently, “They always wanted you to marry for love you know, sometimes I would hear them argue with the royal advisors about it.” No one had ever really discussed Elsa’s marriage, even though she was the heir apparent, she didn’t mention it however. “They would have loved him just like we do.”

With that, Anna seemed to visibly relax. Elsa let her hands lower and hugged her sister tightly, “I’m going to go see if they’re ready for you, okay?”

Anna nodded at her and sat down in a nearby chair while she walked away. It wasn’t more than a moment before she heard a knock on the door, to which she simply replied, “Come in,” expecting it to be Elsa.

When the door swung open it wasn’t her sister at all, but rather Kristoff, looking handsome and far more comfortable in plain shirt and trousers with his cape and crown than he had been in full royal attire.

Anna blushed, and quickly hopped out of her chair, “What are you doing here?”

He gave a sheepish grin, “I thought that since we’ve already been married once today I could walk you down?”

Anna smiled and beckoned him in, loving the way he walked up to her immediately and pulled her into his arms. The pressure of his arms around her made all the tension seep out of her body. He loved her, and she could feel it.

“Plus I couldn’t be away from you for another minute,” he whispered into her ear, eliciting a laugh from her in response.

“You couldn’t have waited just one more minute?”

“Nope,” he said assuredly, “not even one moment more.”

She understood the feeling. She had hated being away from him as well.

“Well then I suppose you could escort me to our wedding if it was so important to you.”

He laughed, and with that he lifted her up into his arms, this time not due to her weakness, but rather because he wanted to keep her as close to him as possible.

As they exited the room, they ran into Elsa who gave a half hearted tut about the groom seeing the bride, followed by a laugh and a smile as she followed them closely down the stairs and back into the main hall that was fully lit by crystals.

Kristoff walked slowly down the aisle, trying not to blush as the trolls all awed at him and his bride. He was appreciative that they would be able to see him married to the woman he loved, and admittedly he didn’t mind having a second wedding if this one was on their own terms.

Anna caught sight of the assembly from her place in Kristoff’s arms. It was difficult for her to take her eyes off him for even a moment, but she was happy that she did when she realized that the crowd was much friendlier than the previous one. She saw most of the castle staff including Kai and Gerda, some of the local children she liked to go and entertain when she wasn’t busy, Oaken and his family, and a few of the other assorted characters she had come to call friends over the last couple years. Of course all the trolls were there too, and while Anna was still learning everyone’s names, she at least knew that Bulda, Cliff, and the kids were in the very front.

Sven stood at the very front, beside Grand Pabbie, and when they reached them, Elsa stood on the opposite side.

Kristoff finally allowed Anna to stand when they made it to the end of the aisle, and Anna couldn’t help herself but to laugh as she was set down.

“Dearly beloved,” Grand Pabbie began, “we are gathered here today to witness the joining of these two humans in the bonds of holy matrimony.”

From somewhere off the in the crowd of trolls there was a voice that shouted, “Finally,” that was followed by an immense group laughter.

Kristoff couldn’t help but chuckle himself, his family would have had him marry him upon their first meeting.

The rest of the procession went off without a hitch, and Anna was soon acquainted with the most important part of a troll wedding, the dancing, singing, and general celebration that followed. They danced with everyone. Kristoff even danced with Elsa, and all was a cacophony of joy and laughter by the time Anna and Kristoff announced that they were going to retire for the night.

Although Anna offered to take care of the mess in the morning, the trolls and castle maids all insisted they would handle the job, and Elsa said she would oversee the rest of the celebration.

Anna laughed as Kristoff lifted her up, for the third time in the same day, and carried her up the stairs to their bedroom. It wasn’t the sort of wedding she had imagined when she was a child. Pressing a kiss to her husband’s jaw she decided that it was even better.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff  
> Modern AU/ Pseudo Star Wars AU/ Possible Where We Live AU Tie In

“I’m dying!”

“You are not, take some Tylenol you’ll be okay.”

Anna shot Kristoff a dark look from across the room, she knew he was right, but it didn’t mean she was happy about it.

“It would probably help if you stopped eating crunchy food,” he added.

She would have retorted that the junk food helped her deal with the pain if it weren’t for the fact that she saw him bringing her a bowl of chocolate ice cream from their kitchen. He set it on the table next to the bottle of pills and the glass of water he had already brought. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before settling next to her on the couch.

She couldn’t stay mad at him when he brought such a lovely offering. She begrudgingly took the cap off the bottle and knocked two pills into her hand, tossing them into her mouth. She chased them with the cold water and much to her pleasure she had to admit that even just the cold water felt good against her swollen gums. It was just her luck that both her wisdom teeth had decided to come in at once.

It was even more her luck that an early morning dentist trip had yielded a prognosis of “there’s enough room” and a prescription of Tylenol and suck it up. For all her general toughness Anna didn’t deal well with tooth pain, she never had. As a child, every lost tooth, cavity, or ache had been like a death.

Anna leaned into him as she grumpily lifted spoonful after spoonful of the creamy treat into her mouth. She knew she should say thank you, she knew she shouldn’t be so annoyed by everything, she knew he was only trying to help, but she also knew that he understood why she was so grumpy. She knew he didn’t mind her being ungrateful for a little while.

It was his turn to pick the film they watched for movie night, and she couldn’t even bring herself to be annoyed at his choice. From the moment the brass fanfare started she couldn’t help but smile. He knew to pick the only movie they would never argue over, Star Wars: A New Hope.

He chuckled when she started to sing the theme under her breath, and she knew that he found it endearing. She wasn’t sure if the pain pills would kick in any time soon, but she was already feeling more relaxed. The pain melted away from her thoughts as she finished the ice cream and set it on the coffee table, below which Sven had fallen asleep in a pile of pillows and blankets he had pulled from the couch earlier in the day.

Kristoff started to play with her hair, and while her eyes were fixed on the screen, her thoughts were on him. Despite his usual gruffness, he was the kindest man she had ever met. He pulled a blanket from the arm of the couch over them, and she drifted off before Alderaan exploded into a million pieces.

***

The sound of blasters surrounded her. One rested heavily in her palm and as a streak of white rounded the corner she instinctively leveled in and blasted.

“Watch it!” Kristoff yelled, wearing the garb of her favorite scruffy looking nerf herder. She came to the realization that the trooper she had shot down was right beside him.

“You’re welcome!” she said reflexively.

He shook his head, “You nearly took my head off with that thing.”

“But I didn’t,” she replied, shooting another as he rounded the corner.

He didn’t react this time, other than to fire another shot behind him and to point to a hole in the wall.

She got the message wordlessly. They had to get out of there.

“Wait!” she called to him, “Where’s Sven?”

She heard a bark come from behind her and turned around to see their hairy pup angrily chomping at the leg of another trooper. Kristoff shot at him and when he fell, Sven launched towards the hole, Anna doing the same, knowing that Kristoff would be right behind her.

When they landed on solid ground rather than in the murky depths of a trash compactor she was grateful, however she was confused for a moment. Kristoff wasn’t within eyesight, nor was Sven. She heard them though, and a look to the left revealed a game table that told her that she knew where she was.

Slowly she walked around the room and walked through entryway after entryway until she found herself in the cockpit where Sven sat, tail wagging, next to Kristoff who was sighing while pressing control buttons.

“We’re safe now Your Highness,” he said, his voice thick with a mixture of relief and sarcasm.

“If you say so Scruffy.”

“Who are you calling Scruffy?” he asked indignantly, standing up from his seat and walking towards her. She backed up, only a few paces, to find herself pressed against a wall.

He frowned for a moment, then he wrapped an arm around her and smiled when she reciprocated, “I guess I don’t mind being called Scruffy if you’re the one who says it.”

His lips were on hers and it was amazing. Her lids closed and her hand moved to his back as his moved to her cheek. The heat of his touch made her feel like she was flying without the aid of any ship.

***

When she opened her eyes she was looking up at him, her vision was blurry, and the light coming from the TV was too bright in the otherwise dark room. She was in his arms, her back resting against his chest, the rest of her body between his legs.

She slowly flipped over in his arms until she was facing him. He looked amused that she had slept through one of her favorite movies, and she was too tired to fight him over it.

“I love you,” she said softly, her voice still full of sleep.

“I know,” he replied, pressing a kiss into her hair before tossing the blankets from them and lifting her into his arms to carry her to their bed.


	17. "A"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hockey/ Figure Skater AU no one asked for.

“Dude are you going to watch that girl again? It’s getting creepy.”

Kristoff shrugged as he left the locker room with his hockey bag strapped to his back. He knew his teammates disapproved of his post-practice escapades, but as far as he was concerned it wasn’t any of their business. He had time to kill between practice and his night class. It didn’t make sense for him to drive across town to his apartment only to come back, and he could spend his time however he wanted. He hoped that no one noticed that he was blushing as he walked out of the locker room and up the stairs to the rink’s edge, just as the ice resurfacing had been finished.

He high fived the Zamboni guy, Pete, who had been working at the college arena since the rink was first put up. The older man smiled before driving off to park, but didn’t say anything. As a man of few words himself, he appreciated their interactions. They were always familiar, respectful, even friendly, but they were never longer than they needed to be to get the point across.

He saw her at the opposite entrance to the ice. She wore the same style warm ups he was in, black top and pants, hers more fitted than his, but both black with the Arendelle University “A” emblem over their hearts. The back identified her as one of the school’s prestigious Women’s Figure skaters, he knew that the numbers and letters below it marked her competition and section wins because on his back, below the words “Men’s Hockey”, he had a few of his own. He always made an attempt to read the words embroidered over the college logo, her name, but never was able to see it for long enough to read it all. He swore once or twice that her name started with the letter “A”, but knew that he could just be confusing it with the University’s patch. Still though, in his mind, he called her A.

He watched as she tugged the guards off her skates and set them on the edge of the rink’s wall before tugging off her jacket and leaving it to rest in the same place. She busied herself with another object, he assumed her phone, before slipping it into the jacket and sending herself out onto the ice.

The music began, slow and mournful, and Kristoff couldn’t help but think that it was unlike her, before he reminded himself that he didn’t know anything about her other than the fact that he had watched her skate for a few weeks. He didn’t even know if she realized he was watching.

Her face looked tortured as the music started, and even though he assumed it was part of her routine, he felt something in his chest ache. She normally skated to fun songs with pop lyrics, so hearing ominous strings confused him until he saw her throw her arms out and start skating away from center ice. She moved across the ice like something was commanding her, like it was not her own energy that propelled her with such fluidity, but rather an invisible force was pulling her. It was eerie to watch as she whipped past him and her body flew up into the air, turning as she kept one arm over her head.

He wished he knew what it was called when she did that, because every time her skates left the ice to lift her into a turn, he was mystified. It always made his stomach twist and turn when they struck the ice again. He was a good skater. He had played hockey since he had been big enough to hold a stick. But he couldn’t imagine having so much control on the ice.

She didn’t seem to notice his presence when she skated past, but after more jumps and step sequence, she dropped into a spin. He swore that she looked at him and pointed a graceful hand towards him the moment before she launched into another spin, this time not leaping into the air, but instead grabbing her own skate and twirling so fast that he couldn’t see her face to know if she had looked at him or not.

When she popped out of the spin, after raising her own leg over her head, he shook the thought from his mind. Why would she point to him? She didn’t even know him. He was just a hockey boy who watched her skate and was always gone before she got off the ice. She had never looked at him before, why would she gesture to him now?

The three minutes she skated felt like three hours to him. He was so captivated by it, the movement of her body in perfect time to the music, the glittering sprays of ice crystals her skates sent flying, and the way she seemed to move like air.

When the music shifted slightly, sounding even more frantic to his ears, he noticed that her face had started to go red, but not quite so much as her hair that spun behind her in a single long braid. By her third jump in what he presumed to be the second half of the routine he could see that she was tiring. Her leg wasn’t quite as straight as it had been before, her hand wasn’t held quite as high over her head when she leapt, and when she landed her skates didn’t stick quite as well as they had before.

He felt a familiar flip in his gut as she started to skate backwards, he noticed her wobble slightly on her skates before she leapt, and though she stuck the landing, she didn’t make it through the second leap in her sequence. Something went wrong on her leap and she came down on her side, hard.

While she didn’t fall often, he knew enough to not move. She would get up quickly to continue the program, but she didn’t. She slid across the ice on her back, and she didn’t stand up, instead she threw one arm over her face, and punched the ice with the other fist. Any athlete knew that going down and staying down meant something hurt.

He didn’t think about it when he vaulted the barrier. He slipped a little bit from the momentum he had built up, and he could all but hear his peewee hockey coach screaming in the back of his head “no sneakers on the ice”. The music was still playing when he reached her, but he could hear her softly sobbing under the weight of her own arm.

“Hey,” he said, taking a knee beside the girl, unable the see her face, but knowing that something was definitely wrong, “are you okay?”

She didn’t move her arm, and didn’t say anything. A sob escaped her mouth that made him wish he hadn’t asked. Of course, she wasn’t okay. No person in their right mind would be laying on a sheet of ice in a tank top and thin pants if everything was peachy.

He reached out to touch her shoulder, not knowing what else to do. He caught sight of her name, embroidered above her heart. Her name wasn’t A, it was Anna.

“Anna,” he said cautiously, “should I get a trainer?”

He knew that Sven, the men’s hockey trainer and a good friend, was probably still in his office below. He would be able to patch her up or at least take care of her until an ambulance came. However Kristoff knew that if he knew that he had been watching Anna skate, he’d never hear the end of it from him or the rest of the team. He was willing to deal with it though. He couldn’t just leave her there hurt.

“No,” she said, lifting her arm from her face at last, pushing herself up to a seated position, “I’m fine.”

The music finally stopped, and he realized that her whole face was red, even her eyes from tears that were flowing down her cheeks. He gave her the same “seriously?” look that he gave his little sister when she said the same thing, and was grateful to hear her huff.

“The only thing I hurt was my pride.”

With that he stood, reaching out his hand. “I don’t think it should hurt too much. I don’t know much about figure skating, but I do know that looked impossible.”

She took his hand and allowed him to help her off the ice, “Not impossible,” she huffed, “Evgenia Medvedeva did it last year at the Worlds and she’s only sixteen.”

He stared at her, confused. He didn’t know who that was, he didn’t know what the “Worlds” were, but he could only assume that her Evgenia Medvedeva was his Wayne Gretzky.

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” he said, letting go of her hand and hating the feeling of emptiness in his palm as his hand fell to his side. He was used to seeing the younger guys come in, he was used to them being better than he was, but it didn’t make him want to give up anymore the way it used to. It made him want to try even harder.

In that way he felt like her understood the redhead in front of him. She looked young enough herself. Probably a sophomore, all sophomores are fiery and looking to make their mark on the world. He figured that she was two or three years his junior, and he knew that he probably shouldn’t be staring at her freckled shoulders and the slight curve of her waist, but there was something magnetizing about her that he couldn’t look away from. That was why he had been watching her for weeks.

It finally hit him that the guys were right. It probably was creepy to have been watching her for so long. She was just trying to practice, and he was an uninvited guest. He looked down at the ice for a moment and then back up at her.

“Sorry I interrupted your practice, I’m going to go now.”

When he turned around to leave, he felt a cool palm grip his shoulder that made him turn back. There was something in her eyes that he couldn’t explain, but she put words to it before long.

“Stay,” she said, her blue eyes staring into his, “You always leave.”

He blushed. She had noticed him there after all. He supposed that she didn’t find it as eerie as the guys all said she would.

“Afterall,” she added before he could find words to say, “I watch you practice too.”

He gave her a look of confusion. He had never seen her anywhere but at her practices. He supposed that she could have been watching before. He never really looked up into the seats during practices unless someone he knew was going to be there.

She blushed, “You didn’t notice?”

He shook his head, “I didn’t think you noticed me either. Did I make things weird?”

She laughed, “No. Actually I kind of liked you watching. It gave me someone to play to.”

“Oh,” he said, remembering all the love songs she had practiced to before. He had thought that her gesturing towards him had been all in his head.

“Yeah,” she said, “So I started watching you practice while I did my stretches because I wanted to support you, even if we’ve never met officially.”

He stuck his hand out without meaning to, but she took it before he could pull it away. “I’m Kristoff, uh Kristoff Bjorgman.”

“Anna Sørensen,” she replied, shaking his hand with a firm grip, “Pleasure.”

“All mine,” he replied.

She laughed and he smiled.

“Maybe we could go grab dinner?” she asked, as he noticed that her blush extended to her freckled shoulders as well as her cheeks, “I’ve got a night class, so I usually just grab something from the dining hall before I go, so maybe we could do that, unless that’s weird.”

He smiled, “That sounds good.”

“It’s a date then,” she said with a laugh, “Would you mind if I tried this again before we go? I’ve never actually gotten that far before, maybe you’re my good luck charm.”

He smiled in return and started walking off the ice, “I’d like that.


End file.
